


Air tight

by atheandra



Series: Bunnies and Escapees [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abused Harry Potter, Adoption, Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Character Bashing, Goblins, Good Slytherins, Gryffindor Bashing, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Rivalry, M/M, Multi, Severitus | Severus Snape is Harry Potter's Parent, but only because 4th year
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2019-10-19 14:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17603261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atheandra/pseuds/atheandra
Summary: Severus just had enough of Harry's arrogance and when the occasion presents itself he starts asking questions... This will not end how he hoped but maybe it could be better.





	1. A ring made of air?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Another escapee! Found out it's easier to keep writing and sleep at night if I don't focus on the same story all day so here you have it another escapee. Same rules apply it won't be updated on a regular schedule but when inspiration strikes.

“Poppy, stop babbling, I told you already I am not leaving this ward. I have questions to ask Mr. Potter and for once Albus isn’t here to interrupt us.” Snape said in his usual cold voice.

Harry knew it didn’t bode well for him. He remembered why he was under the fabulous care of Madam Pomfrey, again, there was a potion incident, Neville added too much bat wings to their potion and Harry put himself between the ‘soon-to-be-exploding-cauldron’ and his friend. ‘Damn his people saving thing, now he was stuck with Snape.’

One thing Harry was certain, the medi-witch always knew when he would wake up and made her way to his bed before the Headmaster could question him. Not that Harry ever witnessed the Headmaster coming to watch over any other student in all the time he spent in ‘his’ bed in the infirmary. ‘Three-Two-One’ Harry thought.

“Ah! Mr. Potter pleased to see you finally awake,” The gentle voice of Madam Pomfrey forced him to open his eyes, so he could assure her he was fine and maybe convince her to let him go quickly. 

“Before you try to explain yourself, Mr. Potter, I would like to know why you seem to think it’s okay to be arrogant enough to play hero in potion class when you were too lazy this morning to put on your heir ring? Which I would like to remind you Mr. Longbottom was wearing as recommended and as such was in no danger of whatever you two managed to cook in your cauldron this afternoon,” Snape said, all the while glaring at him.

Snape wasn’t as impressive as he could have been, but Harry assumed if he hadn’t been so used to the disgusted looks, sneers, and glares from his ‘loving’ family, the man might have frightened him, as it was Harry’s defense mechanism was to always try to up him, some part of his brain thought he was just testing the man to know what it would take for him to break and go from verbal to physical abuses, it’s always good to know.

“Well? Mister Potter?” Snape questioned when Harry took too long to answer.

“I am sorry, Sir, I don’t know what you are talking about. Mrs. Weasley said she bought everything on the list, and I checked it twice since I am always missing things other students have, whether for your class or for others. And before you start saying I am so spoiled I don’t even shop for my school stuff on my own, it wasn’t my choice. We were going to go shopping the day after the Quidditch World Cup, obviously, I wasn’t allowed outside of the Burrow after what happened, especially since some people still thought I was responsible for the Dark Mark since it came from my wand,” Harry explained and waited patiently for the man to retorted something.

“Harry, Darling?” Madam Pomfrey asked for his attention, so he stopped glaring at his potion professor. “Why would Mrs. Weasley be in charge of procuring your heir ring for you?”

“Is it one of those items I can only buy in person? Like for my wand? Because, if it is I don’t think I’ll ever get one. I mean I haven’t been to Diagon Alley since the incident in our second year. Between Lockhart trying to kidnap me, Malfoy Sr being his evil-self, Mr. Weasley’s and Mr. Malfoy’s fists fight and my first ever floo travel ending with me in Knockturn Alley, I understand why Mrs. Weasley took charge of our shopping in the following years. Before our third year, I was living in the Leaky Cauldron, after I blew up Aunt Marge but the minister said I wasn’t to leave the establishment.” Harry explained naively. 

As he was looking at his hands the whole time, ashamed somewhat by his childlike treatment where Diagon was concerned when they had no problem telling him he needed to kill Voldemort if he ever came back.

“Oh, I know,” He said, suddenly cheerful, in the silence that had followed his last intervention. “Maybe I can get one in Hogsmeade, I mean Professor McGonagall must let me go if it’s as important as you say, and surely someone his selling those ‘air rings’ in case we lost ours or if someone stole it right?”

“I…” Snape mumbled, Harry had never heard the man mumbled, so he looked sharply at him. “Mr. Potter, an heir ring isn’t something you can buy,” Snape said in a firm voice but even Harry could say something was bothering him.

“How am I supposed to get one if I can’t buy it?” Harry asked perplexed but it wasn’t the first weird thing he encountered in the magical world, after all, he got the philosopher stone from the mirror to his pocket, it just appeared there. “Is it something you have to transfigure? Because I know my work in transfiguration isn’t so bad but I don’t think I could manage something that would save me from potion accident.”

“Potter, please - Stop - Talking.” Snape snapped at him and Harry thought maybe he should listen, for once, since the man had said ‘please’, and Harry had never heard him say ‘please’ before.

So, Harry just nodded, agreeing to stay silent.

“Poppy, would you mind leaving us alone for a moment?” Snape asked the medi-witch who hesitated looking concerned at Harry who nodded to tell her he was okay, so she left. “Mr. Potter, I know your heir ring couldn’t be given to you the way it traditionally is…” Snape started and Harry already wanted to interrupt him.

Snape must have felt it and answered the unasked question. “It is an heirloom the Lord or Lady of important families give to their heir, either the firstborn or the first son, or daughter, in case the lordship is gender specific.”

Harry frowned at that, it would explain why he never heard of it, Neville wouldn’t have mentioned it, he didn’t like to talk about his parents, and Ron was neither the firstborn, nor the first son of his family, Harry wasn’t even sure the Weasley name was entitled to a Lordship, he read it used to be in the history book Hermione landed to him, but he never heard anyone in the family talk about it, maybe Mr. Weasley had an older brother or sister, and they were the ones with the Lordship.

“Now I know your parents couldn’t give it to you, but if the heir is too young for the responsibilities at his or her parents’ death, the ring is put into their Gringotts Vault for safekeeping and given to them before they enter Hogwarts.” Snape kept explaining, his voice nice and gentle when he mentioned children being orphaned at a young age as Harry had been.  

“Surely, your relatives took you to Gringotts so you could retrieve your ring and be given a statement of finances.” Snape wondered and looked at Harry, but he remembered not to talk and shook his head ‘no’.

“I need to know what I am working with before I let you explain yourself is that okay with you?” Snape asked and Harry nodded ‘yes’.

“You know, you’re not that much of a pain when you can’t talk, Potter.” Snape joked and Harry looked at him wide-eyed for a few seconds before he shrugged, after all, it wasn’t the first time someone told him they didn’t want to listen to him, at least Snape was still talking to him and not simply ignoring him.

“Do you know what a Statement of Finances is?” Snape asked and Harry shook his head.

“Didn’t your tutor explain it to you, or were you simply not paying attention?” Snape snapped at him before remembering to ask yes or no question and it wasn’t Harry’s fault or at least Harry assumed it was what happened when the professor said “Sorry”.

“Did your tutor talk to you about Finances?” Snape asked Harry shook his head, trying to convey that he didn’t have a tutor.

“Did they teach you potion before you came to school?” Snape asked and again Harry shook head sighing, visibly it didn’t work.

“So, you only learn DADA, figures, it is why you have good grades in it,” Snape said without looking at Harry but Harry kept shaking his head until he was sure the man had seen it, even though it was making him a little dizzy.

“Did you have tutors, Mr. Potter?” Snape said cautiously and once more Harry shook his head.

“You can talk now,” Snape told him, and Harry took a big breath, not sure why he stopped breathing as he normally would while the man was questioning him, maybe he just didn’t want to break the tentative truce by making sounds.

“Quirrell talked to me about tutors too. I told him I never had any, he said I shouldn’t lie about such a thing just, so I could slack off with Ron, I should be proud to beat Hermione and Malfoy in his class, they had tutoring too.” Harry told him, he was now curious to know what was so important about tutoring.

“Professor Quirrell.” Snape corrected him absentmindedly.

“I have no respect for people who tried to kill me,” Harry mumbled.

Snape looked at him for a while before he opened his mouth, only to close it immediately.

“I don’t understand if everyone has tutors before coming to Hogwarts, why isn’t there a primary school for magical children, surely, there aren’t that many qualified teachers in the United Kingdom, if the Headmaster  employs people like Quirrell, Lockhart, or Professor Trelawney…” Harry said thinking to himself, at Snape surprised look he added. “She only predicted my death, multiple times, she hasn’t tried to kill me herself to make it true, yet.”

“Point,” Snape said nodding his approval. “The fact is Mr. Potter, we were told you had tutors and would know everything about the magical world, its culture, and its history.”

“I had to learn all that between my birthday and getting on the Hogwarts express?” Harry asked in a defeated tone. “Even if I had been allowed to look at my school books, I am not smart enough to learn all of it in a month. No wonder I used to feel so stupid sometimes when everyone knew so much more about me than I did, or do.” He said with a sigh before adding in a whisper. “I still don’t know anything, can’t even seem to find the books about me Hermione keeps talking about.”

“I think you misunderstood me, Mr. Potter.” Snape told him, Harry had to repress the shiver he was feeling every time someone spoke that word or the ones assimilated with it, ‘it’s only a misunderstanding’, ‘you misunderstood’, ‘misunderstand’, they only led to bad memories and shivers of fear.

Snape hadn’t missed the reaction and filed it for later, he would ask about it once he knew more about the boy in front of him.

“I meant, we were told you were being given a magical education at your relatives’ house.” Snape tried to explain as best as he could, but was perplexed when the teen started to laugh so hard the medi-witch came back to check on them.

Once he had calmed down a little, Harry asked if the professor was serious and got a nod.

“I wasn’t even allowed to say the word magic in the house. Once I got punished because my cousin Dudley wanted to watch Merlin on the telly, Aunt Petunia said I was trying to corrupt her son.” Harry explained and moved away from the professor when he saw the man’s reaction.

Snape’s face was red, just like Uncle Vernon before he started yelling at Harry, so Harry carefully backed away from him and into the headboard of his bed, pulling his knees against himself, it was late October, and he could eat normally again, it had been quicker this time due to his weeks at the Weasley, he wasn’t about to let Snape ruin all his hard work with a misplaced blow.

“Petunia? The old fool left you with Petunia?” Snape started to yell angrily but stopped instantly when his eyes caught Harry’s. “Potter?” He asked sounding unsure and looked up at Madam Pomfrey.

“Harry, Darling, nothing is going to happen to you here, you’re safe at school, remember?” She told him and gained a twin snort from both Harry and Snape for her efforts. At least, the twin snort relaxed Harry, a little.

“I am not mad at you, Harry,” Snape told him. Harry turned incredulous eyes toward him, Snape had called him by his first name. “I knew your mother and your aunt before we came to Hogwarts, she was never a nice person toward those who were different, she hated knowing their parents were so proud of Lily for being a witch, for being one of the brightest witches at school, when Petunia was just average. I don’t blame your grand-parents, I have seen them encourage her too, they went to her horse riding competition, they put her scores on the fridge for the summer, but no matter how proud your grand-parents were of her she could never see past the fact that they still loved Lily even if she wasn’t ‘normal’. I don’t understand why the Headmaster left you with them, he knew Petunia tried to push Lily down the stairs more than once to see if she could get her sister to lose her powers.”

“He knows she tried to beat them out of me too, he says I am exaggerating, that they love me and would be  hurt if they heard me talk about them like that,” Harry admitted for the first time since Dumbledore had sent him back to the Dursley at the end of his first year.

Harry saw both of the adult in the room get their wand out in seconds and as soon as it happened he was off his bed trying to find his, cursing himself for taking so long to realize he didn’t have it in hand.

“Harry!” both adults cried out at the same time, stopping him in the middle of his frantic search.

“We want to do a health scan on you,” Snape said and Madam Pomfrey acquiesced.

“Didn’t Mrs. Pomfrey do one, when I came in?” Harry asked hesitantly, he sat back on his bed ready to pounce away from them if needed.

“I did a surface one to know if you needed immediate medical care, or if you had any current injuries requiring treatment, as I do every time you come here. We…” She said and turned toward Snape who nodded. “We would like to do a deeper one, it would list everything which happened to you since you were born.”

Harry backed himself into the headboard shaking his head vigorously, he didn’t want them to know everything, he wouldn’t survive the humiliation and the mockery from the student body and from Snape.

Guessing what was wrong Snape offered something, “I, Severus Tobias Snape, promise to keep to myself everything Harrison James Potter chooses to reveal to me, may it be in writing, by speaking, or by sharing his memories, I swear on my magic that I will not talk, or write, or share unless he gave me leave to do so, which includes mocking him or alluding to his situation in any fashion, may it be comforting or demeaning in public as well as in private. So mote it be.”

“You…” Harry said and thought about what the professor just said. “You wouldn’t want to comfort me?” Not that Harry cared, or was suddenly expecting Snape to hug him, but he thought if he could be comforted by a simple world the man would at least attempt it.

“I just wanted to make sure you knew I would never speak of anything unless you tell me specifically that I can,” Snape assured him.

“My healer vow prevents me from speaking of anything to anyone other than another healer about a patient. But I could do the same, this way no one can take it from my mind either.” And she did, with the same wording.

“You can comfort me in private when it’s just us three, it’s private enough if you wanted.” Harry assured both of them, and they nodded before pointing their wands at him again.

The scan took longer than expected, not that Harry knew how long it was supposed to take, but he could both see and sense Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey getting more, and more, worried, as well as paler with every line the magical quill wrote on the medi-witch parchment. Harry had tried once to move away from them, they had seemed distracted enough he thought maybe he could run for it, he was wearing one of the infirmary pajamas but ti was okay it wouldn’t be the first time the other students in the castle would get to see him in those. He didn’t get far anyhow, not even out of the bed, before Snape, he was pretty sure it was him his magic felt different from Madam Pomfrey’s, stuck him to the bed with the help of a sticking charm.

“I need…” Snape started then stopped, casting a wary look to the papers piling up in the Medi-witch’s hands. “Yes, that’s it, I need you to stay on this bed, with Poppy, I have a floocall to make,” He declared and left them alone going to the office.

“Mrs. Pomfrey?” Harry asked when she stayed silent, glaring at the parchments in front of her. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay, he asks! Am I okay?” Poppy ranted for a while before her eyes snapped toward him, and she gave him a piercing look. “I should be the one asking if you are okay, Harry, not the other way around. This…” She said pointing a line on the parchment Harry couldn’t read from the bed. “And this…” She said pointing another line. “And all of those, …” She kept going from one parchment to another, adding comments in the margin with her quill. “How are you even alive?”

“ I would like to know as well.” A deep voice said from behind him.

\---------

Meanwhile in the office:

Severus sat down on the ridiculous cushion next to the floo. Why was it pastel green, why not Slytherin green? He knew the devil medi-witch didn’t even like green as a color, she didn’t have anything against his snake, but it was an aversion she developed during the first war after seeing too many casualties of the dreaded Killing Curse.

He was dreading the call he had to make, it wasn't the first time he had to call the man but usually, it involved pranks gone wrong and suitable punishment, never did he have to call on him on such an important matter. He knew he would be needed, or at least his wife would in some way. Plus, he hated the fact that he had to call out that stupid name every time he wanted to speak to the man.  

“Gryffindor’s Den,” Severus called out while sending a pinch of floo powder into the hearth.

“What be Master Potion need?” One of the House-elves answered. “Is little Masters in trouble?”

“In a way, I need to speak to your Master, it is rather urgent,” Severus said and the House-Elf quickly popped away.

The man must have been close by, as he walked into the room not a minute later. Before, any greetings could be exchanged Severus told him what he wanted from him.

“I need you to step into the infirmary right now.” 

“Noda said none of the children were in trouble. What is this about Severus?” The man asked calmly.

“I took a vow not to divulge that information, but I am requesting as a friend for you step through as quickly as possible,” Severus explained putting as much urgency as he could in his voice, they didn’t have time to waste, if Dumbledore was to find out what they were doing, something told him the man would swipe it away as he had done before.

“My grandson was with me for an afternoon tea, should he join us?” The man asked.

Severus quickly thought about it, only one of them could be having tea with his grandfather and since the more Harry talked, the more they uncovered, it might be useful to have him on hand just in case they needed to make a quick trip, he might at least be useful in running interference with the Headmaster.

“Yes, take him with you,” Severus answered and stepped away from the fireplace when he was told they would come immediately.

Once again they skipped the pleasantries, Severus would apologies later but time was of the essence here. As they stepped through the door, Severus had to silence the younger man, glaring at him for daring to interrupt the Medi-witch in her rumbling. She didn’t give any details just pointed lines after lines on parchments that both of their guests recognized, the ‘in-depth medical report’ parchment had a specific blue color it was light and only people who had already gone through one or work in the medical field would know it for what it was, but they had never seen so many pertaining to the same person.  

“How are you even alive?” Poppy finally asked, and this seemed to chock the older man out of his stilled stance.

“I would like to know as well.”

Harry looked back at them, even though his position stuck on the bed wasn’t ideal.

He didn’t know what Snape had gone to do but since the man wasn’t dead he would assume he hadn’t told anyone what he had confided in him.

The older man next to Snape reminded him of someone, another person, he couldn’t yet see, was standing behind them, but his attention was focused on the older gentleman. He was dressed in nice robes, in deep blue with a bit of gold on the hem, simple but yet looking expensive, at first glance Harry thought it might have been silk he had seen Malfoy walking around in similar robes, but when the man walked closer to him he could see, what he had mistaken for the effect of the sun reflecting on silk, were tiny mother-of-pearl scales twined together.

The man himself, although he looked well cared off, looked ordinary, and old, Harry thought he looked as old as Dumbledore himself, but instead of long hair and a long beard, his was shaved, and the few hairs still present on his head were trimmed short and as white as chalk giving the wrong impression of boldness.

“Grandfather let me introduce you.” A younger voice said from behind them and Harry recognized it immediately.

“Bill?” Harry ask incredulous and wondering why Snape had called Bill, and who Harry assumed was Arthur’s father, having heard of Molly’s parents’ death not long after her brothers, and finally understanding why the man looked so familiar to him.


	2. Once a savior always a savior.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry meets Septimus Weasley and the man wants to help... Not that Harry understands why... But he wants to help someone too so he goes along with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Severus is out of character but it will be explained soon (though not much explanation needed it's about Lily.)

“Good evening Harry!” He smiled at Harry, as the younger man waved at him. 

Bill met him the day before the World Cup but Harry looked healthier, now. At the time of the game, Harry had looked too frail, scared of other people coming close to him, he had even seen him wince when his mother hugged him, he knew that wince well, both himself and Charlie often wore it when they came home hiding an injury. He had planned to talk to Harry after the game, unfortunately, the Death Eaters had ruined this plan. Maybe, now would be the time.

“Hi, Bill!” Harry answered shyly, clearly wondering what they were doing here.

“Harry, this is my grandfather, Lord Septimus Weasley, consort to dowager Black,” Bill introduced the older man he had come with, “Grandfather, may I introduce Harrison James Potter, heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient houses of Potter and Black.”

“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Harry, my grandchildren speak highly of you.” Septimus greeted Harry.

“Thank you, sir, they are always nice to me,” Harry answered concisely.

“Of course, now Severus, I suppose I am here about young Harry?” Septimus asked.

“Yes, of course,” Severus agreed and then turned toward Harry. “Harry do you know what a dowager is?” He asked gently.

Harry couldn’t help but glare at Snape, the man wasn’t mocking him, nor was he telling others about his secrets, but he was heavily hinting at his lack of knowledge and it was not okay.

Severus saw Harry’s reaction and knelt in front of him, taking his hands. “I would never go against my vow, Harry, I called Lord Weasley here to help you not to mock you, if you wish for it I know he will make a vow too, but it will have to be less constrictive, maybe including only certain people, or he can't help.”

“You want to help?” Harry asked skeptically to the other adult males in the room.

“I was at my grandfather to talk about you, Harry,” Bill admitted and Harry looked up surprised. “You are too skinny and you won’t let anyone touch you, for the first week you were home you didn’t even mount your broom, the twins were scandalized.” He added making Harry relax a little. “After they came to rescue you at the beginning of your second year when Mom didn’t believe them, they came and talked to me,” He kept explaining, “I talked about it with Dad, and he told me he would take care of it. Then last year they came to see me in Egypt and you were not with them and that worried me a lot. This year, when I asked where you were when Charlie and I arrived, Mom told us you were with your family, it was not until I saw you, I realized she meant you went back to your relatives.” He said, his voice pleading for Harry to forgive him.

“You wanted to help me?” Harry asked surprised. But if he started to think about it, Snape and Madam Pomfrey wanted to help too it seems. “I should have let the Hat put me in Slytherin,” He mumbled but unfortunately with Snape so close to him still he heard.

“The hat wanted you in Slytherin?” Severus asked, he wasn’t surprised, the hat sent him many abused children over the years.

“It said I would be good in every house but Slytherin would help me achieve great things. I don’t want to do great things,” he added softly, “I just want to be Harry, just Harry.”

“Harry, I will be honest with you, that will never happen,” Septimus told him. “You are too important to simply be Harry to most of the people in the wizarding world.” He added but held up a hand when he saw everyone starting to protest, “But I wouldn’t mind getting to know Harry and help you live a normal life for as long as we can, would that be agreeable?”

Harry looked at him for a long time. He could feel Snape gaze on him, and his nervousness, he didn’t know what it was about, but he also knew if he took too long someone, most likely Hermione, or Ron, would barge in and interrupt them.

“Harry,” Snape said and Harry looked back down to the man who hadn’t move from the floor. “A dowager is someone who is in charge of the family and the lordship’s affairs until the rightful Lord is either available, in case of illness or prolong stay abroad, or of age. It is what Lady Longbottom is doing for your friend Neville. Lady Weasley is Dowager Black, she is bound by law and by the family charter to take care of you until you are old enough to take care of the family.”

“Lady Longbottom let people throw Neville out onto the lake at her house, and said nothing when his uncle made him fall several stories because he was holding him up the balcony and got distracted,” Harry informed them, scared of what Lady Weasley could do to him.

“Augusta is trying to turn her grandson into his father. Unfortunately, unless she starts abusing him physically, or he makes a formal complaint, there is nothing any of us can do, as they are both dowagers and although Neville is part of the Black family, they share the same amount of power, Augusta slightly more seeing as Neville is Heir Longbottom.” Septimus said with a sigh.

“Can’t I help? You just said I would be responsible for the family?” Harry asked eagerly.

“Unfortunately Harry you can't help before you come of age and Neville is only a day older than you so, no, there is nothing you can do. You might be able to write a letter to Neville’s grandmother telling her you don’t like how she treats him but what she does with that is up to her.” Bill told him.

Harry sighed heavily, Neville was family, the Weasleys too, and if he wanted to help he had to do the responsible things, he couldn’t do it if he didn’t know how and the Dursleys would never let him learn. They probably would try to take it all for themselves. Harry wasn’t stupid, he knew lordship came with some money, even if it was a little it was still something he could use to help nice family members, not those who worked him like a bad House Elf.

“You have to promise not to tell people,” Harry said.

“If you could provide me with a list, I would review it and tell you if I can agree,” Septimus told him hoping the honest approach would help gain Harry’s trust.

“The students, except for the twins, because they already know and Neville too,” Harry admitted, he tried to think about anyone else specifically, but he didn’t know anyone outside of school, sure there was Percy and the rest of the Weasleys and the teachers, but he supposed Madam Pomfrey would have to tell them, then there was Mr. Malfoy, not that the man would be interested in any of it other than to make fun of Harry, but at the same time Draco had said his father had an important position in the ministry maybe he should be told, if it could help.

“The students?” Snape asked surprised.

“With the tournament being for ‘of-age’ students and no Quidditch, maybe I can have a normal year, I don’t want to give them more ammunition to mock and ostracize me,” Harry explained.

“Tournament?” Bill asked.

“Yes, Dumbledore thought it was a good idea to bring back the Triwizard Tournament, of course, he only told us once everything was in place, the only thing the board was able to enforce was the age restriction. No underage wizard is to compete.” Septimus informed him, not missing the sharp intake of breath Bill took at the mention of the dangerous tournament, “You brothers are safe.”

“Even the twins?” Bill asked skeptic.

“Yes, we made sure to include a list of students allowed to put their names in the cup, the twins won’t be on it as they won’t be of-age until April,” Septimus assured him.

“Back to Harry please gentlemen. I do not know how long it will take Albus to know Harry is here, he is usually faster than this to come and visit.” Madam Pomfrey reminded them.

Septimus gave his vow, Bill too and Severus handed over copies of the medical history Madam Pomfrey was still going through.

The four adults perused the parchment for a few minutes, Harry didn’t need to, he remembered every occurrence, no need to see them in writing. When the last sentence was read Bill was crying, Snape was angry at the parchment, or at last he was glaring hard at it, but it warmed Harry as he could feel his dreaded professor was simply trying not to scare him by looking at him, it made Harry smile, Lord Weasley was mad, pacing the hospital from Harry’s bed to the door and back.

“Gringotts.” Septimus suddenly said. “Right now, before the old fool comes back.”

“I can’t allow that, you aren’t his guardians.” Madam Pomfrey told them though she looked sorry to have to say so.

“I am sorry, Madam Pomfrey.” Harry heard Bill say from where he was sitting on the chair next to his bed, the same one in which Harry would usually find Dumbledore when he woke up. Suddenly Bill drew his wand out and a beautiful purple spell hit the medi-witch. Bill caught her before she could fall.

“Don’t worry.” He told Harry when he saw his wary look. “She is just sleeping, Dumbledore will bring her back once he comes in, and she can sincerely say she doesn’t know where you are.” Bill lifted the woman into his arms and went to her office, Snape unstuck Harry and followed, Septimus closing the march.

Once in the little room, Harry could see Bill had placed Madam Pomfrey in her desk chair and laid her head on the desk as if she had fallen asleep naturally after a long day.

Snape grabbed the floo powder and Harry winced at the sight of it. 

“Don’t worry Harry, hold on to me, I’ll bring you directly into my office. We’ll meet the both of you at the bank, tell them you have an appointment with Ironclaw, he is my manager while I am back here,” with those parting words, Bill hugged Harry tightly to himself and said “Cursebreaker Weasley’s office.”


	3. Bill's Office

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill needs to get some things out of his chest, poor Harry all he asked was why Bill wanted to help him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is definitely Molly, Ron and Ginny bashing though Slight for now, stuff Bill think aren't supposed to be this way.
> 
> Oh yeah I almost forgot, I edited the previous chapters, didn't change the plot just corrected mistakes

Bill held on to Harry tightly, even inside the floo path Harry seemed to have more trouble than most, Bill had helped his youngest siblings through the floo countless times, and he had never seen a reaction like his. He would have to investigate it. 

Thanks to their quick reflex, brought on by Quidditch and life, they managed to step out on time and only stumble slightly when they exited the floo in Bill’s Office. 

It was a plain room, as they were in Gringotts there was no window, the walls were carved into the earth and rock, which Bill had taken advantage off by planting various nocturnal magical plants into, his desk too was made of rocks, they were smoothed and polished but it made it sturdy and sometimes uncomfortable and cold, though Bill was now used to it, there were no bookshelf, no portraits, no pictures, Bill was only there on loan from the Egyptian branch and didn’t see the point of bringing picture of his family from his original office when he would be living with them for the time being. His office had two doors, one leading out, one leading directly to the Gringotts’ library, where he spent most of his time, as his work mostly consisted of knowledge, he needed to know where to find the new excavation point, what type of curses he would find, how to dismantle them, who had put them in place, this all required research, which he was always happy to do. 

“Bill?” Harry asked when Bill led him to the door, wanting to bring him to Ironclaw office to meet with the others. 

“Yes, Harry?” 

“Why… I mean I don’t get it,” Harry mumbled, clearly having troubles finding the right words. 

“Why am I helping?” Bill inquired and sighed when Harry nodded, leading him back into the room, so they could sit down, Harry in his office chair, and Bill on the desk, though after seeing how small and uncomfortable Harry looked he made him switch so Harry was at eye level with him. “It has nothing to do with the Boy-Who-Lived Harry, I know Mom and Ginny, and even sometimes Ron talked a lot about that, seeing you as some superhero capable of defeating and conquering anything, all the while treating you like a little boy as Mom does. I don’t think they should be doing that. Yes, you saved Ginny in her first year, and she was  lucky you were friends with Ron, as I don’t think you would have helped otherwise…” Seeing as Harry was about to interrupt Bill kept on, “I am not saying you wouldn’t have wanted to save her, just if you hadn’t been friend with Ron you wouldn’t have found out about Ginny until it was too late. I was angry at the professors that night, when Ron, Fred, George, and Percy, told us what they knew and I learned there had been hours between the discovery of the message and your adventure into the chambers, hours in which they only contacted us and planned on sending everyone back home, not doing anything to find her, so I forgot to say thank you and for that I am sorry.”

“That… That’s okay.” Harry told him. 

“No, it is not, you were 12 years old, you shouldn’t have had to do any of it. No one should be so scared to be sent home they’ll rather face a life-threatening situation.” Bill told him and Harry looked at him surprised. “The twins, Harry, pay more attention to their surrounding then they let on, Ron didn’t notice, he thought, and still think, you didn’t all this because Ginny is our sister and because you wanted to find who had hurt Hermione. The twins explained to Charlie and me, how you had panicked when people started to speak about the school closing, how mean people were to you that year, what they did to try and make you laugh…” Harry laughed remembering the twins’ behavior that year “They told us you had rather suffer through it than talk to the teachers about what was going on because you feared they would believe the students and send you away.”

Bill paused, thinking about what he wanted to explain. 

“Fred and George, first, contacted me after they rescued you from your relatives, they told me about Dobby and the Underage restriction, about the bars on your window, the cat flap and the deadbolt on your doors, your trunk locked down under the stairs in a small space where they saw a mattress and a painting stating Harry’s room…” Bill stopped when Harry winced “they didn’t want you to know they knew, they had planned to talk to Mom and Dad, but Mom…”

“She brushed it off, saying I was fine and the twins shouldn’t joke about things like that.” Harry finished for him. 

“She doesn’t like listening to the twins much, it is why they know to come to us, older brothers even if we live away,” Bill assured him. “Anyway, as I told you I talked to Dad about it, to see what we could do and because he could try to see with the Ministry if you could be allowed to live at the Burrow in the summer. He flooed me back a week later, told me he talked about it with Dumbledore and everything would work out…” 

“Dumbledore said I have to stay at the Dursleys and to stop being ungrateful, well he didn’t say it like that exactly, but he said they loved me and would be hurt if they heard I didn’t want to go back,” Harry explained, “I am pretty sure, they would have a party if they were told I wasn’t coming back,” Harry mumbled but Bill heard him though he chose to ignore it for now, as he didn’t want this talk to take too long and worry his grandfather and Professor Snape. 

“Well, he told me you would live with your family during the summer, and as you are a Black that could mean anyone from Neville Longbottom to the Tonks, including the Malfoys, though I didn’t believe for one second Dumbledore would have sent you to Malfoy Manor…” Bill chuckled and Harry followed, “As you know last year they came to see me, I am still a little peeved they spent so much on one trip instead of buying a new owl, or at least something useful, I know Mom said second-hand everything was fine, and since Charlie, Percy and I did well in our studies with it I couldn’t deny her, but still,” He shook his head to stop venting, “Anyway, you weren’t with them, as I thought you would be, and when I asked why Ron told me you were spending the summer with your family and, were certainly going to go visit some exotic location too, the twins were shaking their heads above him, I sent him away and sat them down, they explained you were sent back to the Dursleys, how they had tried to convince Mom and Dad to invite you on the trip but Ron had told them you had plans to go to France…” 

“It was Hermione,” Harry said shaking his head and clearly trying to keep tears at bay. 

“So the twins explained but as you are Ron’s best friend they were more inclined to believe him than the twins. I, Charlie, Fred, and George talked a lot about you over their stay, we decided I would contact Grandfather to see if he could help you. Ron may have told you I didn’t spend much time with them while they were there,” Harry shook his head, all Ron had talked about was what he saw and got to buy, or so Harry told him, “well, for one I was pissed they left you at your relatives but brought Ginny and kept buying her trinkets and praising her for her knowledge of Egyptian myths. Now, don’t get me wrong, I was happy to see her safe and alive, but I think she should have been punished for what she put everyone through during the year, she should have known not to trust the diary immediately, if there is one thing Dad always insisted on as we grew up was to never trust something thinking for itself if you can’t see where its brain is, but she still wrote into it, and she should have spoken up when she woke up missing memories but with blood and feathers on her, if nothing else it could have been hazing and it is unacceptable, but she didn’t and everyone was just ready to forget about it because no one was hurt, not at all taking into account what you went through…” Harry rubbed his forearm and Bill thought he would ask what this was about, “or the fact that while the victims had been petrified they could just as well have been killed if any of them had looked at the monster directly, apart from Hermione and Penelope it was luck that saved them all. Ginny should have been punished and having her running around enjoying her summer while you were sent to those muggles was making me angrier and angrier every time I saw her.”

Bill stopped to pace, breathing heavily, he was still angry at his parents every time he thought about it, how his mother had brushed his demand off as if he was crazy, but had no problem grounding Fred because Georges had scared Ron in one of the tombs, not that she knew she had punished the wrong twin, and they wouldn’t tattle on each other. None of them had ever said anything about the way their parents seemed to threat Ron and Ginny differently, Molly would yell at the twins for their pranks and their marks but would be happy to see Ron barely scrapped an A all over, ‘as long as he is passing his grade level’ she had told him, she had praised him and Percy for being made Head Boy she needed to realize with grades like those Ron would never even be chosen as a Prefect, and he won't make it into the Quidditch team as he wished either as they had to maintain their grades while going to training several times a week. And Ginny, what was there to say, Ron was the only one who ever protested over the fact that she always got new things, because after all she was a girl and wanted to wear dresses she couldn’t wear the clothes the brothers had had to pass down, toys for girls were different too, but what Bill couldn’t agree with was that where they would buy the boys a new exploding snap set to share and play together Ginny would have gotten a new doll for herself, they should have rotated, the essential were one thing the rest wasn’t needed, the eldest boys had never had to complain about what they got and were doing fine. 

“Bill?” He heard and turned around seeing Harry looking worried. 

“Sorry, I… My parents think I only came back to England this summer for the World Cup, but I have been here since February, I lived at Gryffindor’s Den with Grandfather, we were trying to find solutions for you, but also for the others, as well as, a way for Ginny to get some help from a healer as it can’t be healthy to not receive any punishment for what she did, she might come to think it was alright to do whatever she wished,” Bill explained, “As I still had to work, and we didn’t have access to information on your side, it has been going slow, but we found Sirius,” Harry jumped off the desk at this, “He was sleeping when we left, Grandmother was a healer, and she is taking care of him, trying to make him sleep as much as possible and shoveling food down his throat at every turn,” he explained with a fond smile. 

“So, Sirius is going to be okay?” Harry asked shyly. 

“He will be fine, by the time your school year is over he should be as healthy as he was before Azkaban.”

“But…”

“But he’ll still be a fugitive, Harry, you can't live with him, Remus and I are trying to find Pettigrew, but we aren’t having any luck, he must be under powerful wards, that, or he went out of the country," Bill explained. 

“Hum…” Harry said and bit into his bottom lip to stop himself from going on. 

“Do you know where he is?” Bill asked him, not believing Harry would know anything.

“He is with Voldemort,” Harry told him, “I saw them together, with someone else, and they killed a man, named Frank, but I don’t know where it was, it was an old house, that’s all I know.” 

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Bill asked him, not thinking doubting him would lead anywhere. 

“Because I woke up in my bed, it was the night before I came to the Burrow, I thought it was a nightmare, Professor Trelawney told me Wormtail would reunite with Voldemort after he escaped and I thought I just dreamed about it happen,” Harry explained. 

Bill made a note on parchment on his desk, “I’ll look into people named Frank either gone missing or found dead around that time.” 

“Should we..?” Harry said pointing toward the door. 

“I still haven’t answered you,” Bill said with a chuckle. 

“Yes, you did, the twins were worried so you want to help me, because they asked,” Harry told him nodding to himself, “They are good friends.”

“No, Harry,” Bill told him surprising the teen. “Yes, they talked to me and asked if I could help, but if they had told me they had seen Draco Malfoy wincing when people touch him, or not eating as much as he should, I would still help, no child deserve what happened to you. You being a sweet, smart, well-mannered young man is just the cherry on top.”

Harry blushed and nodded quickly. 

“I wanted to help, still do, and now that we are at Gringotts, we will hopefully find out more,” Bill told him, before leading him toward the door, “are you okay with Professor Snape being here?” He asked thinking about what Ron had told him about the relationship between Harry and Snape. 

“Yes,” Harry said in a steady voice leaving no place for arguments, apparently either Ron had been wrong once more, or something had changed drastically. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got inspired when I woke up have more to write about it today so you all might get a second chapter soon.


	4. Gringotts' Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At Gringotts, many things are revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, here it is, I went a little overboard with the Gringotts tests and the explanations so this chapter is over 6,000 words...  
> Hope you'll enjoy it. 
> 
> Several pairings are revealed in there and will be added to the tags when I post the next chapter ;)

Severus and Septimus flooed to the Leaky Cauldron, not being allowed to floo directly to Gringotts, as Bill was. They ignored the usual gossip mongers: present all day long at the bar, already whispering about one of the Weasley kid being in trouble at school, and why was the potion master away from Hogwarts at this time of day; and made their way to the archway as quickly as they could. They walked quickly to the white building and waited for a teller to be free, asking for a meeting with Ironclaw and Cursebreaker Weasley, stating the urgency of the matter. As usual, the Goblin looked at them with disdain, but he quickly called for a second Goblin to lead the way.

Severus had never been led so far into Gringotts’ caverns, he knew the deeper you needed to go the higher the person you were meeting was in the Goblins hierarchy, something they had kept from battle strategies, let the soldier in the front lines, though the humans used them as cannon fodder, while Goblins thought anyone who wasn’t able to pass the newbies wasn’t worth their time and skills.

Ironclaw’s office was richly decorated, on the walls were shelves of trinkets, made of precious metals and stones, daggers, swords, and shield shining from the bright light the windows were allowing into the room. There were tapestries, a big wooden desk partially covered in parchment of divers colors and origins, a long table with several uncomfortable looking chairs were on the other side of the room but the office’s desk had two comfortable looking armchairs, covered in red velvet which Severus and Septimus were led to.

“Master Ironclaw,” Septimus said and bowed when a goblin entered the room from a side door, Severus followed his lead bowing his head to the goblin.

“Lord Weasley, Master Prince.” The goblin retorted and missed the shocked look on Severus’ face when he sat down. “What can I do for you today?”

“I am sorry, but as our party is yet to be complete, would you mind explaining your greetings?” Severus requested.

“We are waiting for more?” The goblin asked ignoring his question for now, though it annoyed him Severus knew better than to snap at him.

“My Grandson and heir, cursebreaker William Weasley, will be joining us, he is escorting Heir Potter-Black to your office,” Septimus told him.

Ironclaw made a note which promptly disappeared before turning his attention to Severus.

“As to your question, Master Prince, as the heir apparent of the Prince title, it is the way you should be referred to until you either accept or deny your inheritance.”

“I was told my mother and I had been disowned,” Severus informed him skeptically.

Someone knocked on the door and Ironclaw directed their attention to a plaque on the wall next to his desk, it stated, Cursebreaker William Arthur Weasley, and Harrison James Potter-Black-Gryffindor… Other names were written but the font was too small for Severus to read, though considering Septimus surprised intake of breath Severus had a feeling they were up for more surprises.

Ironclaw called them in. Severus was surprised to hear Harry’s laugh before they could see them, but he realized why the young man was so happy when Bill entered with Harry attached to his back his legs around his waist and both arms holding on tightly around his neck.

“Manager Ironclaw, I am sorry, Heir Potter never had a Piggyback ride before and I found the fact to be horrific,” Bill told him with a grin as he bowed carefully to his manager Harry waving at everyone from above them.

“I understand Cursebreaker Weasley.” Ironclaw dismissed him with a smirk, startling Septimus and Severus who had never seen anyone interact with the goblins in this way.

Bill let Harry slide down to the floor and the young man immediately bowed to the Goblin master. “May your blade taste the blood of your enemies,” he said the traditional greetings.

“May your adventure be fruitful, young Lord,” Ironclaw answered looking impressed, “May I ask who taught you our ways?”

“Griphook. He kept me company from time to time in the summer I spend at the Leaky Cauldron. The bank is always cool, it was a good place to be and observe people in the hot weather.” Harry informed them.

“Why did you spend the summer at the Leaky Cauldron?” Severus asked alarmed, “who was staying with you?”

“Oh hum…” Harry hesitated, looking at all of them, then he seemed to make a decision and nodded, walking closer to the desk. As Bill and Harry came closer two comfortable armchairs appeared for them to sit in, Harry took the one between Severus and Septimus while Bill sat on his Grandfather’s right smiling at Harry when he looked at him.

“Aunt Marge, Uncle Vernon’s sister was insulting me, and I was getting angrier but I only blew up a glass, and she thought she had done it so everyone moved on, but later that night she started insulting my mother and I got so angry she began to… inflate, until she was so full of air she was floating against the ceiling, I blew up the cupboard door retrieved my trunk went to grab Hedwig’s cage sent her to the Weasley’s, grabbed the presents I had received that morning for my birthday, and left Private Drive as fast as my heavy trunk was allowing me to. The Knight Bus took me to London, I was planning on coming to Gringotts and get money from my account as I thought I would be expelled but the Minister was waiting for me at the Leaky Cauldron, he told me no one was going to expel me for blowing up my aunt, but I couldn’t go back to the Dursley, and they had asked I don’t bother them until the next summer, then he rented a room for me for the rest of the summer, only asking me to stay in Wizarding London and not go to the Muggle side.” Harry explained and when he finished every adult exploded.

“I am going to call for a vote of no confidence,” Septimus stated.

“You were at the Leaky while everyone was in Egypt?” Bill growled.

“He left you, YOU, alone, giving you free rein of the alley for a month,” Severus was enraged, how was that man even elected, Harry was only 13 at the time, Black was on the run, but even without that, Harry could have wandered to Knockturn Alley, meet one of the free Death Eater, all sorts of dangers were lurking around in the alley, Tom wasn’t enough to protect the teen he couldn’t be everywhere, so many things would have gone wrong.

“It was okay, better than staying at the Dursley,” Harry assured them.

“That’s not the point Harry, so many things could have happened to you, what if you had been sick, or wandered into someone who would want to hurt you?” Bill asked him making the teen pale, he apparently hadn’t thought about that, relieved to be away from his relatives’ care and safe from expulsion.

“He should have contacted the school, one of the teachers would have taken you in, or bring you to one of your classmates family, the Weasleys were absent apparently, but Augusta would have taken you in, you could have spent the month with Mr. Longbottom, safe under the wards of his manor,” Severus explained to him.

“I…” Harry said but Severus interrupted him.

“It is not your fault, Harry, the Minister is an adult, he should have thought about all that, he did tell you to stay away from Muggle London, which was a good idea, as in the alley the other wizards and witches could protect you if someone, Sirius Black, for example, had found you, but as an underage wizard you were left defenseless if someone with bad intention had followed you or hurt you in the middle of the summer crowd,” Severus told him, hugging the teen when he started to shiver in fear, of what could have happened to him.

As they were talking Ironclaw was taking note of grievance as they were stating them, it would be useful in the future.

“May I ask why you asked for an emergency meeting with me?” Ironclaw asked, but Severus noticed he had waited until they managed to calm Harry down enough for him to be part of the conversation.

“Harry was hurt in a potion incident earlier and when I inquired about his Heir ring, he had no knowledge on the subject,” Severus informed him, “We do not know who the Potters account manager is but Master Weasley lead us to you, as he trusts your judgment on the matter.”  

“Harry is also being abused under his current guardians’ care, and we wish for a way to protect him,” Septimus added, handing over the health scan Madam Pomfrey had given them.

Ironclaw perused the parchment, taking more notes on his side parchment, but also sending internal notes to others in the bank.

“I see, there was grievous mismanagement in the placement of Heir Potter. I required for several Managers to join us, they will come in with the necessary folders as soon as Heir Potter’s identity has been confirmed,” He informed them as he went to a side chest and retrieved a bowl, some herbs, and a dagger, seeing Harry’s reaction to the daggers he went to grab more bowls. “May I suggest everyone take this test?”

Severus had never seen a goblin taking into account anyone’s feelings not even when he brought in his quota of first-year muggle-born on their first visits to the alley, he guessed Harry had a way with people, and creatures, though he wouldn’t have admitted to it when he woke up that morning.

“Of course,” Septimus agreed, though Severus doubted there would be many surprises on the Lord’s test.

“What does it do?” Harry asked.

“In normal circumstances, I would require a drop of your blood to be added to the herbs and potion, the melange would be applied to this parchment,” The parchment he showed them seemed plain, “It would reveal who you are nothing more. Now as we want to know about your health as well as your wealth, I will require seven drops of your blood and the mixture will be added to this parchment,” This time getting a golden colored leaf out of a locked trunk on his desk, “One of our Healer will come in, as soon as you agree, to make sense of the medical findings, we will let her to her readings and deal with the rest until she is ready to present her plan to us. As I do not think it would be a good idea to spread the knowledge of your presence too far I asked for my bonded to join us if this is agreeable.”

Once again Severus was surprised, Ironclaw wasn’t paying attention to them at all, his attention solely on Harry, trying to make him feel safe and comfortable, he would have to ask Bill about this goblin. In the meanwhile, Harry had thought it through and must have come to the same realization as he agreed with a small smile thanking Ironclaw for his forethoughts.

They waited a couple of minutes and a female goblin wearing a light green tunic entered the office without knocking, not that Severus could see any difference between male and female goblins, but Ironclaw had references to the healer as Her and so Severus thought they might be female. The difference was easier to make when she greeted them, while the male voices were deep and reminding human of rocks graveling, the female before them had a light voice, which Severus thought, sounded like water dribbling down the waterfall.

Harry was handed the dagger, he looked it over but handed it to Bill first, Severus wondered why, but Bill scanned it casting a couple of spells at the dagger, before cutting the tip of his finger to let seven drops of blood fall onto the bowl Ironclaw had placed in front of him. He cleaned the blade and handed it over to his grandfather who repeated the process, without the spell work as he trusted his grandson. When the dagger was left into Harry's hands again, Severus looked as he hesitated, and wondered if he would be given the blade or if the teen would use it first.

Harry took a deep breath and cut his thumb letting seven drops of blood fall, before handing the blade for Severus to clean and his thumb for Bill to heal.

Once done with the process, they waited for Ironclaw to transfer the content of each bowl onto the parchments and it immediately was absorbed forming words as it disappeared, Harry’s took more time to be assimilated and Ironclaw had transfer what was left over to a new sheet several times.

When he was done Ironclaw handed over the copies to the healer who went to seat at the conference table, then looked up at Harry. The teen looked uncomfortable and pointed to Bill so the attention would be away from him for a while.

“Cursebreaker Weasley, do you consent to share your results with the present humans?” Ironclaw asked him.

“I consent.”

 

_William ‘Bill’ Arthur Weasley,_

_Born November 26th, 1970, Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, Scotland._

 

_Sire: Arthur Septimus Weasley_

_Bearer: Gideon Leon Prewett_

_Mother: Margareth ‘Molly’ Weasley, née Prewett. (blood adoption - November 26th, 1970)_

 

_Title:_

_Weasley - Heir_

_Prewett - Heir apparent_

 

_Block:_

_50% Core - November 1981_

_25% Mage Sight - June 1989_

 

_Potion:_

_Purging Potion - September 1989 - 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1994_

 

_Magical familiar:_

_Wolf - unknown_

 

_Magical contract:_

_Creature Mate - not enforceable_

_Gringotts Employment._

_Vow of confidence - recipient Harrison James Potter_

 

Bill was looking at it, wild eyes, Septimus grabbed his parchment and after reading it once more, he asked; “Can you explain it to us?”

“According to the on file Birth Certificate for one William Weasley, his bearer was Gideon Prewett, Margareth Prewett was added as a secondary parent on December 21st, 1970,” Ironclaw explained.

Severus watched as Harry stood up and went to hug Bill, the eldest Weasley, holding on to him tightly before lifting him up onto his lap.

“Thank you, Harry,” Bill told him, “the rest please, Ironclaw.”

“I suppose the next question would be the Heir apparent Prewett,” Ironclaw asked and Severus could see Harry had another question, thankfully Septimus saw it too and answered him.

“I designated Bill as my heir when he was born, none of Arthur’s brothers were interested, and I never trusted Molly,” Septimus explained, “I wasn’t sure why, I just don’t trust her, she was spending too much time asking about Arthur’s inheritance and the Prewetts’. Gideon and Fabian were Arthur’s best friends so our families were spending much time together, she was always trying to force them to bring her everywhere they went.”

“Like Ginny, she always complains and goes to Molly when we try to do something without her, she is following us everywhere,” Harry complained from his spot on Bill’s lap. “Ron, too, if Hermione and I do something without him he pouts and tells us we should have waited for him.”

They stayed silent for a while, contemplating what Harry had said.

“The Prewett line,” Ironclaw went back to business, “is entailed to twins, if any are born. Frederick and Georges are underage, cursebreaker Weasley is to be their guardian and to approve all decision made in their name until April 1st, he will become the Heir on their 17th birthday, until either, one of them as a child, or another set of twins is born to the family.”

“I have decision power over our parents?” Bill asked Severus wondered about that too, remembering Ironclaw’s greeting, he had told him he was the Heir apparent too.

“Yes,” Ironclaw told him and moved on, “the blocks on your core will need to be removed, I have a feeling several of our purging ritual rooms will be useful. It is a wonder you are one of our best human cursebreaker even with half of your core and ¼ of your sight blocked.”

“Bill is the best,” Harry said happily praising his friend, trying to make him smile, which worked.

“I can only agree with you, youngling,” Ironclaw told him. “Hopefully your magical signature will not have overwritten the signature of the person who cast the block on your sight, the one on your core is too old.”

They all nodded to acknowledge their understanding of the situation before Ironclaw started again.

“The purging potions are part of your contract, and are given to you once a year, unless you were involved in an accident, to prevent the corruption of our curse breaker,” Ironclaw told them. Severus understood it, to assure his potions hadn’t hurt him, he had to take the purging potion regularly and it would probably appear on his list, he was hoping for a more general listing instead of every date.

“Your familiar is a Wolf, according to this you haven’t met it yet, so no name can be given,” Ironclaw kept on, “Not enforceable, means you haven’t met your mate yet, he or she will be a creature or part creature, as a human, you have the ultimate choice when it comes to the relationship you want to establish with them, if you chose to bond, that decision will override any and all existing bonding contract, as a creature mating bond is approved by Lady Magic.”

“Grandfather is there any pending contract?”

“My bonding to Cedrella sealed the standard Black contract, it was the only one I am aware off,” Septimus told him but seemed to try to remember something.

“Ask about the twins,” Harry told Bill poking him in the stomach.

“Is there any contract under the Prewett name?” Bill asked Ironclaw after thanking Harry.

“I’ll send a notice to the Prewett account manager, we will have an answer by the time your purges are done,” Ironclaw told him, smiling at Harry. He, then, took Septimus' parchment.

 

_Septimus Alastor Weasley_

_Born September 10th, 1916, Gryffindor’s Den, Cork, Ireland._

 

_Sire: Alastor Atticus Weasley_

_Bearer: Guinevere Mary Lovegood._

 

_Title:_

_Weasley - Lord_

 

_Block:_

_Not applicable_

 

_Potion:_

_Not Applicable - See medical filing._

 

_Magical Familiar:_

_Owl - Nemesis_

 

_Magical Contract:_

_Last recipient - Black standard contract._

_Vow of confidence - recipient Harrison James Potter_

 

“What is this ‘Black standard contract’?” Harry asked.

“When the Wizengamot was created the Black family offered the land the ministry was built on,” Septimus told him, “Well, offered isn’t the right term, they negotiated its use, in exchange for a Founder’s seat, as well as, a magical contract for every Wizengamot families to have at least one person of their choosing to marry into the Black family, it is why so many of your classmates have Black ancestries, but it also explains to a degree why Sirius’ parents were cousins as their parents were fanatic about keeping the Black blood to the family, and why we are known as Blood- traitors, as Cedrella and I fell in love and married at Gringotts without her family’s approval.”

“But now it’s only me and Sirius, do I have to marry someone?” Harry asked panicked.

“No, Harry, no,” Severus told him, “Has the future Black Lord, under Cedrella’s guidance, you are the one who needs to approve of the contracts, no one can force you to approve any bonding, especially not your own.”

“Oh!” Harry said calming down. “Great.”

“Walburga, Sirius’ mother, disowned many in the family, either for bonding against her wishes or for not following the Dark Lord, Cedrella will help you, introduce them to you, and if you approve, you can bring them back to the Black family when you take over, that way it won’t be just you and Sirius anymore,” Septimus explained, making Harry smile happily, certainly at the thought of having a large family, though he seemed to have yet to realize this included the Weasleys.

“You don’t have blocks or malevolent potions, it seems only healing ones,” Ironclaw brought them back to the subject at hand, and Severus was grateful, the longer they took the easiest it would be for someone to find them and interrupt.

“Snape’s next please,” Harry asked Severus nodded to Ironclaw, Harry’s would no doubt take longer and this was the easiest way to go.

 

_Severus Tobias Snape._

_Born January 9th, 1960, Spinner’s End, Cokeworth, England._

 

_Sire: Tobias Snape - Muggle_

_Bearer: Eileen Snape, née Prince._

 

_Title:_

_Prince - Heir Apparent_

_Ravenclaw - Lord (pending acceptation)_

 

_Block:_

_50% Core block - January 1971 - Breaking_

_10% Leech - January 1976 - Corrupted_

_10% Leech -  February 1981 - Corrupted_

 

_Potion:_

_See listing_

 

_Magical Familiar:_

_Niffler - Unknown_

 

_Magical Contract:_

_Dark Mark_

_Life Debt to James Charles Potter - March 1975 - Transferred to Harrison James Potter-Black - February 1981_

_Pending Black standard contract_

_Bonding to Luna Lovegood - Signed by Albus_ (many names) _Dumbledore, Margareth Weasley,  Xenophilius Lovegood - June 1990_

 

“Excuse me, what did you just say?” Severus asked extremely calmly, though he felt anything but.

“It seems you have a bonding contract with young Lady Lovegood,” Ironclaw informed him.

“The girl is 13, how is that even legal, I never signed anything to that effect, and why is Molly even involved in signing bonding contracts for others?” Severus asked, trying to stay calm although he could feel his carefully crafted Slytherin mask crumble.

He was shaking with anger, imagining all the things, all the reasons the old goat had to do this when he felt arms around himself, he almost lashed out until he realized Harry was trying to hug him as he had done for Bill when he had needed it.

“Thank you, Harry,” He said calming down enough to think again. Harry was about to retire to his chair but Severus kept him close, he had a feeling there were more he wouldn’t like, and as he had made an unbreakable vow to protect Harry he knew his magic would never turn against him.

“Can we see this contract?” Septimus asked for him.

“I’ll add it to the list of documents to read after your purges, but I can tell you it was signed on the 14th of June,” Ironclaw told them.

“Pandora died on the 13th, they certainly didn’t wait around,” Septimus commented, he had always been close to his mother’s family and didn’t approve of the way his granddaughter was treating her cousin.

“What’s a Life Debt?” Harry asked.

“I’ll explain later,’ Severus whispered to him, not wanting to discuss the event leading to this contract in front of Septimus, he knew how protective the man could be and Sirius was still in his care, as much as he knew.

Harry nodded and waited patiently for his teacher to release him, though he seemed to enjoy being held, so Severus wasn’t in any hurry.

“What are the requirements for the Prince Lordship?” He asked.

“You are holding it for your first child. Your grandfather didn’t want to leave your father in charge of the finances and unfortunately he passed before your parents, or he would have changed it, he talked about it with me, when I was the Prince account’s manager,” Ironclaw told him.

“That’s alright, though I will need to make a will and chose an heir so the Lordship isn’t lost in case of my unfortunate death, as I don’t have children at the present, nor any plans to have any in the immediate future,” Severus said aloud, but mumbled “Especially since my wife is only 13,” so low only Harry heard him.

“You have two heirs already,” Ironclaw informed him, “Due to the magical contracts, both Lady Lovegood and Lord Potter meet the requirement.”

“Leave it as is, for now, I will inform Lady Lovegood, and find her a more competent guardian as her father clearly cannot be trusted.”

“He was grieving,” Septimus pointed out.

“He had 4 years to correct this,” Severus snapped at him. “I am sorry, but Xenophilius was a Malfoy before marrying Pandora, he might be flimsy, but he knows the pureblood ways, he could have canceled it at any time, as I did not sign it I can’t, not until we know how it was possible to even write one without my consent, even though I am an adult.”

“I might have an idea, about why,” Bill said when everyone stopped arguing.

“Please, Master Weasley enlighten us,” Severus sneered at him, still not calm enough.

“I don’t know the details but the Lovegoods are descendants of Lady Ravenclaw, it is common knowledge among the pureblood, as it is believed to be entailed to females, although you are proof to the contrary, the contract might have been signed to hide your lordship, as everyone would believe Luna to be Lady Ravenclaw, whether you seat them or not,” Bill explained, but still seemed deep in thoughts. “It disturbs me to think so, but if Luna has a contract with you, she is one less female competition for Ginny to bond with Harry.”

“I don’t want to marry Ginny!” Harry yelled at them, before slapping a hand over his mouth and blushing deeply.

“Something you want to tell us, Harry?” Bill asked amused but Harry only shook his head violently.

“Let’s move on to Lord Potter if you would,” Everyone nodded, and Ironclaw read Harry’s parchment.

 

_Harrison “Harry” James Potter_

_Born July 31st, 1980, Padfoot’s Den, Baskerville Hound,  England._

 

“I was born in Sirius’ house?” Harry exclaimed, happy to know new things about himself.

“Looks like it, we’ll have to ask him if you want to know why,” Bill told him and gestured for Ironclaw to keep going.

 

_Sire: James Charles Potter_

_Bearer: Lily Potter, née Evans_

_Father: Sirius Orion Black - (Blood adoption - August 1st, 1980)_

 

“I don’t … Can I…” Harry tried to ask but shook his head when everyone looked at him.

“Yes, Youngling?” Ironclaw insisted.

“What is the difference between Sire, Bearer, Father, and Mother? How can Bill and I have two fathers?” Harry asked hastily.

“Ah, we use sire and bearer as we offer this test to human and creature alike, and to creatures the person giving birth is called a bearer and the person impregnating them is called a sire, regardless of their gender” Ironclaw explained, seeing as the adult wizards in the room at blushed quickly but kept quiet. “As for Master Weasley, his bearer was Gideon Prewett, meaning Lord Prewett was the one giving birth to him.”

Harry tried to make sense of it, Severus could tell because he was biting his lower lip and frowning, making his nose move involuntarily.

“Harry, Madam Pomfrey explained this to you all in your second year, remember?” Severus asked.

“Madam Pomfrey gave us a lecture? I don’t remember that most of the time when I am at the infirmary I am unconscious,” Harry told him.

“You never received your sexual education pamphlet?” Septimus asked him sounding alarmed and though Severus understood, Septimus needed to calm down, Harry was barely 14 years old, they had time still before he found himself in need for this type of information.

“Harry, wizards can get pregnant. I won’t tell you how or why now, we will talk about it later, in detention, I don’t want to spend too much time away from Hogwarts or people will notice,” Severus told him when he saw more questions coming.

“Oh, okay. What about father and mother, then?” He asked.

“Wizards are the only one using blood adoption to assimilate new members of the family, though it is usually meant for orphans, or in case of the death of one of the parents, in the eventuality, the surviving party would remarry, not to claim children who aren’t theirs,” Ironclaw told him.

“Sirius is my Godfather,” Harry snapped at Ironclaw not liking what he was implying.

Ironclaw raised his hands in a peaceful gesture and went back to his reading.

 

_Title:_

_Potter - Underage Lord_

_Black - Underage Lord_

_Gryffindor - Underage Lord_

_Hufflepuff- Underage Lord_

_Slytherin - Underage Lord_

_Peverell - Underage Lord_

_Evans - Underage Lord_

_Gaunt- Underage Lord_

_Lestrange - Underage Lord_

_Rosier - Underage Lord_

_Rookwood - Underage Lord_

_Dolohov - Underage Lord_

_Mulciber - Underage Lord_

_Travers - Underage Lord_

_Ravenclaw - Co-Heir_

 

“Who are all those people?” Harry asked them.

“Death Eaters, either dead or at Azkaban,” Severus told him and hold him tight, soon joined by Bill when Harry became pale and started to shake.

“I don’t want anything from them, make it go away,” Harry told them his voice unsure.

“That's impossible Harry, but we can find family members to whom you can give it to if you approve of them, or maybe keep them under your name, you can do much good with those titles in the Wizengamot,” Septimus told him, “anyhow, you can’t and are not expected to do anything about it until you are of age, unless you chose to allow Cedrella to sit them for you as she is the Dowager for the house of Black.”

“Can I think about it?” Harry asked him after a few minutes of silence, both Septimus and Ironclaw nodded.

“It certainly explains why the Hat had so much trouble choosing a house for me, he said I would be good everywhere,” Harry said.

“What do you mean?” Severus asked curiously.

“It said I had plenty of courage, not a bad mind, talent and a thirst to prove myself, I guess I wasn’t loyal yet as my only friendship was a few hours old,” Harry told them, “I understand why it said I was difficult, I am Lord to three of the houses and the heir to the forth.”

“Do we have any power over the school?” Severus asked Ironclaw.

“Much. You own it, the only reason the board exists is because the heirs needed all four of them to be present and agree to pass motions, they were either missing one, or unable to agree on anything, the heirs votes are the decisive factor in all changes, hiring, events, according to the school bylaws.”

“We can get rid of Binns,” Harry said excitedly.

“We’ll see about everything else first, the priority is to protect you, even if it means letting you take naps in History of Magic classes,” Severus told him firmly, and snorted when Harry pouted.

 

_Magical Guardian:_

_Albus Dumbledore - assumed._

_See the parents’ wills._

 

“What does it mean?” Harry asked.

“A magical guardian is a person responsible for your education, they also assume proxy for your Wizengamot seats and make the ultimate decision in health treatment as well as financial needs, and he was the one to place you with the Dursleys, which he should not have been allowed to do, accepting guardianship means he was to raise you himself,” Septimus told him through clench teeth.

“And ‘assumed’?” Harry wondered, clearly wanting the whole picture.

“It means he was appointed by the court in the absence of a legal guardian, seeing as your parents’ wills are noted as having been sealed on October 31st, it is safe to assume, as the chief warlock, he placed himself in this position, illegally,” Ironclaw explained.

“So, Dumbledore has been responsible for me since… since that night? He left me to the Dursleys to be abused and treated as a bad House Elf but as access to my seats, to what I assume is the parliament making our laws, and to my money, and he did all this illegally and no one ever questioned him?” Harry asked, furious.

“Harry…” Severus tried to calm him.

“No, …” Harry snapped at him, “You don’t get to Harry me, you don’t know what it was like, and what they did to me, told me, and what I did since I found out I was a wizard, all to stay in the wizarding world, as far away from them as I can for most of the year, and I was accepting when I thought it was because Sirius was sent to Azkaban, because he explained to me how Hagrid wouldn't give me to him, and how he thought I would be safe for a few hours with Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey, but it was nothing like that. Dumbledore stole me and gave me to them, and he keeps sending me back, and… and…” Harry was having troubles breathing, but he didn’t seem to notice anything around himself, only his pain.

If he had, he would have seen the tendrils of his magic swiping around the office, breaking trinkets, crashing books, pushing the wizards and goblins away, and just enveloping him in a cocoon.

“Spell a Calming Draught into him?” Septimus suggested.

“Can you see a clear path to his stomach from here?” Severus asked him, hoping he would say yes.

“I can,” Bill told them and Severus gave him the vial, he opened it, let the liquid trickle to form a small ball, waited for an opportunity, “Be ready to grab him, I need to try before he explodes,” he said and sent the ball of potion right through Harry’s cocoon.

Harry’s magic gave a violent shudder before receding inside his body, making the three wizards run to catch him before he could fall on the floor.

“It will be okay, Harry, I promise, we will fix as much as we can tonight and move on to the rest during the school year, but you will never go back,” Bill told him running his hand in Harry’s hair as Severus hold on to him tight.

“Ironclaw keep going, I know from Madam Pomfrey that Calming Draught and Sleeping spells only have a limited effect on him, he assimilates them too fast,” Severus required.

“The list of blocks and potions is long. Blocks cover everything from a 75% block on his core, and two leeches like you have,” Ironclaw said casting a wary look to the teen, which Severus understood, if Harry was already this powerful with only about 25% percent of his core available, what could he do without the blocks, he would need help, once the purges were done, he looked at Bill, and he could see the cursebreaker had shared his worries as he nodded to him, Severus relaxed, Bill was powerful, he would be a great help. “There are specific blocks put on his learning and school achievements, what worries me, are the signs of hate potions, amicae potions, and although he is only 14, Love Potion being given to him by several young females, although it would not have had any effect has his core is focusing on trying to keep him healthy and trying to  break a block on his soulmate bound.”

“He has a soulmate?” Bill asked surprised.

“We all do,” Severus told him, seeing Bill’s incredulous look he explained, “We all have a soulmate, doesn’t mean we can’t love someone else as there is no guarantee we’d ever met them, they are the perfect person for us is all it is meant to be, for the bond to appear and have been blocked by someone means Harry met them, the bond starts to form as soon as both start feeling friendly toward each other. Yours probably is your creature mate, as they are one of the same.”

“I am happy for him, I hope we can purge the block,” Bill told them.

“They are notoriously hard to meet, Harry is lucky,” Septimus told them, from where he had sat in his armchair, certainly considering himself too old to sit on the floor.

“The rest?” Severus asked.

 

_Magical Familiar:_

_Owl - Hedwig_

_Phoenix - Fawkes_

_Thunderbird - Unknown_

_Bowtruckle - Unknown_

 

“Well, most of them are flying creatures, which doesn’t surprise me,” Severus commented.

“Why does he have so many and most are magical creatures?” Septimus asked.

“Because he needs them to balance his power, the bowtruckle is probably for him to always have one of them with him. We might want to try and find it soon,” Bill explained.

 

_Magical Contract:_

_Individual Life Debt - Owed by Hermione Jean Granger, Ginevra Molly Weasley, Tom Marvolo Riddle, Nicholas Flamel, Perenelle Flamel, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black._

_Collective secondary Life Debt - Wizarding World_

_Bonding to Ginevra Molly Weasley - signed by Margareth Weasley, Albus (too many names) Dumbledore, Arthur Septimus Weasley, Minerva McGonagall, Cornelius Fudge._

_Pending Standard Black Bonding Contracts - Controlling act._

_Soulmate bonding - Overriding factor._

_House Elf - Dobby_

 

“Even I need some of those explained,” Septimus said.

“Individual Life Debts were already talked about, though I am curious to know how one so young collected so many already. Collective secondary Life Debts are, I believe linked to his defeat of the Dark Lord in 1981, I’ll track down the specifics for you, he can’t claim anything too drastic from it, and it will not lead to the death of the contractor in case of failure. The bonding contract was signed on September 1st, 1991, after his Head of House was chosen. Of course, as you explained, as he had already interacted with his soulmate if he decides to date and bond with them it overrides everything,” Ironclaw informed them.

“I thought nothing could cancel a bonding contract made by the guardians of an underage wizard but the people who signed it? I don’t see them taking the cancellation laying down,” Severus stated.

“He met them before the end of the feast, his first night at school, the soulmate bond was in place before Dumbledore and the others signed the contract,” The healer told them, “It is the only logical answer,” she added, “I can even tell you who they are if you want, I found them in the health scan, well, there is no name but a time maybe it could narrow it down.”

“Please!” Harry pleaded, saying his first words since his panic attack.

“It says soulmate’s first contact September 1st, 1991, 10:56 and soulmate’s first contact September 1st, 1991, 10:56,” She told him smiling when Harry blushed.

“Two time stamps?” Severus asked.

But it was Harry who answered making the adult wizards groan and the goblins laugh at their reactions.

“The twins.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hum... I hope you liked it and I'll try to answer any questions you'll have (even to tell you 'you have to wait for the answer')


	5. Chatter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just Septimus making plans and talking with Bill and Severus while they wait for the purges to be done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I got lost in the Gringotts tests for another story, but I hope you'll like what I wrote for this even though it doesn't push the story forward much

Ironclaw didn’t let them dive into shock before he announced the next part, the purging rooms were ready, and as the Goblins sent to retrieve the Goblet of Fire had just return Dumbledore should soon be going back to school, they needed to act quickly.

As Septimus was the only one not in need of a purge, he sat patiently in the waiting room, trying to focus on the most pressing matter first, Harry needed a new guardian, evidently, Cedrella would be a perfect choice, as the Black Dowager, she was already in charge of his Lordship until his 17th birthday. Anyway, he couldn’t shake the feeling he had, that if Harry’s condition was made public Dumbledore would send him to live with Arthur and his children over the summer, to keep an eye on him.

Septimus loved his son, and it pained him greatly to not see him more often, but he couldn’t spend time with Molly, every time she looked at him, all he saw was greed, and after turning out unexpectedly sick after a trip to the Burrow he stopped going. Oh, he couldn’t prove it, and neither could the healers or the goblins, but it happened too many times already, and he wasn’t going to allow himself to be poisoned by his daughter-in-law. He had made sure Bill’s appointment as his heir would be kept quiet, as he feared, what would happen to Arthur if she ever found out he wouldn’t inherit.

Bill needed to make a will, choose one of his brothers to be his heir, in case something happened to him, it was important too. The twins would be fine, they would be at school when their inheritance would come to them no need to worry about them now. Although Bill had blocks on him, what was to say his other grand-children weren’t affected in the same way, he would need to find the time to get them tested. Over Samhain would be good, it would keep them away from that blasted cup.

He still didn’t understand how Dumbledore managed to organize everything with the other schools without ever involving the Board of Governors. There were so many things to organize. The budget for the food needed to be changed for the year, suits and dorms needed to be made available, the Giant Squid needed convincing to not attack Durmstrang’s ship when it would appear, the teachers would need to supervise the students' interactions. Durmstrang was known to be a Dark school, and although he trusted the students to respect each other, he knew the prejudice Slytherins faced would transpire on to the Bulgarian school. Half of Beaubaton’s candidates were creatures or part- creatures, he had no problem with accepting them at Hogwarts and had campaigned for it over the years, but it required arrangement to be made, Fleur Delacour for example, she was a part Veela, a chaperone should accompany her so the hormonal teenagers wouldn’t bother her.

But what was done, was done, and he needed to focus on what he could change, of course, they didn’t tell Dumbledore they had the Goblins had a list of possible candidates to the Cup, let him believe his age line would be enough, the Governors would protect the students. 

Bill came out as he was wondering if he should call for Cedrella to come to Gringotts  before they were done, and he forgot about it. 

“How are you feeling?” He asked his grandson. 

“As if I took a bulger in the head,” Bill told him. “It’s the sight, it will pass, I need time to adjust, is all. If I keep my eyes closed, the headache disappears.”

“Keep them closed then, I will take no offense.” 

“Thank You Grand-Father,” Bill told him and sighed. “How are we going to get Harry away from him now? He is his magical guardian,” Bill said rubbing at his eyes. “And what of the twins and Ginny? I saw how she looked at Harry this summer, she knows I can guarantee it, and if her Bogey-bat hexes are anything to go by, she will hex the twins if she learns about the soulmate bound.”

“You let me worry about Harry’s Guardianship,” Septimus said and added before he could protest. “I let you deal with the twins and your sister.” 

“Is she? Are they, though?” He asked Septimus looking at him for the first since he came out. “I was old enough to see Molly getting heavier, and hear her getting sick in the morning, I remember her being pregnant, but she is not my mother, and I want to know how many of us did my dad bear? Which ones are my blood siblings?” Bill asked. “I love them, and will always love them anyway, blood isn’t everything, but…”

“But you want to know what happened?” Septimus told him, patting him on the back. “It is natural to want to know, even more for you, mysteries are what you thrive at. I was thinking of calling them back on Samhain and having them tested then. I know the school will hold an event that night but during the day there will be no classes ”

“I could arrange for it with Ironclaw,” Bill assured him. 

“Will you allow Fred and George to court Harry?” Septimus asked him. 

“I need to do that don’t I?” Bill groaned which made Septimus laugh. “Do you think their soulmate bond was blocked? If it was then someone knows what they are if it isn’t they must be in so much pain because Harry didn’t acknowledge it. They are extremely protective of him already, I can only imagine what will happen when they find out about this.” 

“They are your responsibility,” Septimus reminded him with a smirk. 

“You are a vile and cruel man, Grandfather.” 

Severus was led out of the purging room at that moment and raised an amused eyebrow at Bill who shook his head and decided to close his eyes again. 

“I hope Harry will be up for detention once we are done, I need to cover for our whereabouts when we go back to Hogwarts,” Severus said with a sigh, he looked tired. 

“Pepper-up,” Bill suggested. 

“It might not be a good idea. Too much of his core was blocked, it will be unstable, a Pepper-up could lead to a catastrophic series of accidental magic,” Severus explained. 

“The goblins will know,” Bill assured him. 

“Did you decide what to do?” Severus asked. 

“I think Cedrella should have guardianship over Harry, we will decide after James’ and Lily’s will are read,” Septimus told them. “Before you protest based on time, if the will takes too long, I’ll come back with you to the school and distract Dumbledore for some reasons, I want the children to come to Gringotts over Samhain, I’ll use this excuse.” 

“Fine,” Severus sighed. “And the twins?” 

“I think I should wait to decide until after the twins are tested,” Bill told them. “I know Harry was sure when we were in the office, but I won’t put it down on a contract until we have proof, I don’t want them hurt.”

“But you won’t forbid it, right?” A small voice called from the door, and they all turned to look at Harry. 

A goblin was walking behind him and stopped to talk to him before Bill could answer.

“Youngling, you are going to need this,” He said as he handed over a crystal covered in runes. “You must always have it on you, it would be best if you could find your bowtruckle friend soon, but for now it will have to do. If, one of your familiar can accompany you everywhere then you’ll only need to sleep with the stone close by.” 

Bill seemed to recognize the stone and the runes as he walked closer to them, with a wary but awed expression. “How many?” 

“17 Curse Breakers, and 8 of our stones,  one of which you will find the remains to be sent to your office, Curse Breaker Weasley,” The goblin said with a bow, making Septimus and Severus raised an eyebrow, they hadn’t realized how high up in the hierarchy Bill was, they never witnessed a goblins bowing to a human employee before. 

“And the soulbond?” Bill asked. 

“The block on the soulbond was already breaking down, Lord Potter must, really, want to be with his soulmate,” he answered before exiting, leaving a blushing Harry behind. 

“Is that so?” Bill asked teasingly. 

“The twins are really nice, and are always looking out for me,” Harry told them before mumbling “and they are really cute,” not realizing, with all the marble in the room, it would reverberate and everyone would hear, making him blushing darker. 

“We should get back upstairs, the wills are waiting for us,” Severus told them leading them toward the door. “Are you going to be okay, Harry?” 

“I feel amazing, but a little tired, maybe I’ll have an early night,” Harry told him. “I don’t even hurt anymore, they said my magic healed everything,” He kept going not realizing the shocked look on the others face, “they said it was a good thing because marble is expensive, and I was about to break everything when the magic decided to heal me.” 

Bill stopped him and hugged him, “You were in pain? Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“It’s okay, it was just like where my leg was broken when I was little, he didn’t heal right and it was always a little tugging when I walked but it’s gone,” He said jumping up and down to prove it. 

“Harry, where are your glasses?” Severus asked when he was calmed enough to not sound angry. 

“Don’t need them anymore, and the goblins said my magic destroyed them,” he explained pulling something out of his pocket. “Ballin said I made that, so I get to keep it.” 

Harry was holding a beautiful engraved stone, which looked like opal, and represented what Septimus assumed was meant to be Hogwarts, although the castle couldn’t be recognized, a badger was running on the ground, a raven perched on a tree, a snake slithering on the marches, and on the door a Lion appeared. 

“It’s gorgeous, Harry,” Septimus complimented him, and Harry beamed happily. 

“Yes, Harry it is really pretty,” Severus admitted and lead them back to Ironclaw’s office.


	6. James' Will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> See title

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I had plans to write both in one chapter but that was sad, so here it goes, I'll write Lily's next in a few days

The trip back to Ironclaw’s office was quick and soon they were listening to the wills, which were a recording of James Potter kept in a memory orb, making Harry cry as soon as his father’s image appeared, thankfully Bill lifted him onto his lap, Septimus offering him a handkerchief to dry his tears. 

 

_ I, James Charles Potter, sound of mind and body, do so declare, on this day October 26th, 1981.  _

_ Previous wills are null and void.  _

 

_ To the love of my life, my Lily, I love you so much, I am sorry I had to leave you but if I am gone, it was meant to be, and you have a task to finish, you need to live and be happy so you can take care of the most precious of our possession, our son Harry. To ease your burden, I will to you vault 752, in accordance to the family charter all of your expenses will be settled by the family vault until your death, (which I hope will not be before you are at least a hundred), or you remarry (which after a grieving period I encourage you to do, and not because I don’t want you to empty my vault, but because I wish for you to be happy and love, and for our little Harry to have siblings as we always planned.)  _

 

_ Lily Potter, née Evans, is to get sole custody of my son and heir Harrison James Potter. She is to be given all rights and privileges due to a Lady Dowager of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter, from this day forth.  _

 

_ To my brother in all but blood, Sirius Orion Black, I don’t think I can ever thank you enough for the life we lived, you got me to have fun, find love, get my little Prongslet. The only thing I can tell you is I died, but know that it wasn’t your fault. I wanted to protect you from them, so I told Crouch you were not our Secret Keeper. I have been feeling anxious for the past few days, and Peter keeps looking angrily at Harry, Albus said he will come after the feast on Halloween to change the Fidelius Charm, but I feel it will be too late. Lily knows where I hid your trunk, make sure not to let Harry get his little hands on it.  _

 

_ In the painful event, my Lily passed away before me, sole custody of our son Harrison James Potter is to go to his Godfather, Sirius Orion Black.  _

 

_ Sirius, you better make up with Remus, you’ll need him to live and you’ll need him as a responsible adult example for my little pup.  _

 

_ To Remus John Lupin, first my profound and sincere apology, I never meant for you to feel like you had to walk away from us like we didn’t trust you. You are our best friend, we love you, and I hope you will be around to help raise Harry, no matter who gets to raise him. Know that the only reason I did not include you in the list of possible guardian was so no one could contest my will saying I was out of my mind because of your furry little problem. I don’t and never did care about it, you are the gentlest, smartest person I know, and if I thought they wouldn’t kill you for who you are just to get him away from you, I would give you custody.  _

 

_ Remus John Lupin, I will you vault 798, enjoy it, no take backs, Lily knows about it and let me tell you if you try to not use it she will curse you.  _

 

_ To Peter Pettigrew, if we died at Voldemort’s hand, or any of his Death Eater, while at our residence of Godric’s Hollow, it is his doing, he is our Secret Keeper and will be until Albus can come and change it. At which point, this enchanted parchment will automatically change to specify Peter’s reward for not betraying us as I fear he will.  _

 

_ To Severus Snape, nothing I can give you even in death will ever make up for what I made you endure while we were at school. There are no excuses, no apology to be made, as I don’t want you to think I am trying to use my death to absolve myself. Just know that I regret everything but saving you. Lily and I decided to make you Harry’s second Godfather, she says she will come and tell you on Samhain so you can complete the ritual. I know she disagrees with my choice of guardian, Sirius is immature and you would be more responsible in raising him, but I am sorry to admit, I don’t trust you to put aside your anger at me and as just as Lily refuses to add her sister to the possible guardians list, I refuse to add you. Sirius will teach him about our world, our tradition, his future roll in our government. But it is my hope, that you can see past my childish misdeed and be part of Harry’s life. Let’s be honest, if he got my talents for Potion he will need your help.  _

 

_ To Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, STAY OUT OF HARRY’S AND LILY’S LIFE. As the house is part of the Potter Estate, I can and did order the wards to refuse yourself as a Secret Keeper on any of our properties, you would hide them away forever and no one would ever see them again, I don’t want that life for them. I know you say it is meant to protect us, but there are other ways to do it, and other ways for Voldemort to fail, but all you focus on is that prophecy and how someday Harry will kill him. Harry is a baby, a happy loving baby, not a soldier, not an auror, not an Order member, leave him alone.  _

_ Lily knows what to do if you persist in your plan to use Harry as a shield against the Dark Lord of our time. Prophecies aren’t meant to be understood until they came to pass. And sometimes I think you forget my mother was a Black and a Slytherin, I know what you are doing by keeping us in the dark.  _

 

_ To my little treasure, Harry, I love you so much my son, that sometimes I think my heart might explode, so I hold you in my arms and you smile at me, and call me Daddy, and I feel like the whole world lightens up. I am sorry I left you, I am sorry you had to grow up without me, I am sorry for everything uncle Sirius will teach you about pranks, don’t listen to him too much. Know that I will look over you, I don’t think anyone could keep me away from you, not even your mom. I will wait thousands of years before you join me, so don’t feel like you need to leave this world before you had the time, to live, love, have fun, grow old. If you die before giving me grandchildren you will be grounded in the afterlife.  _

_ Ugh, that wasn’t the most fortunate image… I promise not to look over you while you make my grandchildren… Yeah, that’s better.  _

 

_ To Harrison James Potter, my heir, I will the entire Potter estate, all other titles I am in line for without any reserve.  _

 

_ Seats’ Proxies until Harry is of age are to go to Lily in her Dowager capacity, to Sirius if Lily is unable or unwilling, to Severus if Sirius is unable or unwilling with the provision in case he still follows Voldemort that he will swear a vow to never hurt or misrepresent the Potter’s name and status, to Frank Longbottom in case Severus is unable or unwilling, to Amelia Bones if Frank is unable or unwilling.  _

 

_ I am trusting you with this Severus, and only because Lily trusts you, and Remus wouldn’t be welcomed in the Wizengamot.   _

 

_ If none of the mentioned representants are able or willing, the seats are to be kept empty until such a time my little Harry is to seat them himself.   _

 

_ Guardians of Heir: _

_ Lily Potter, née Evans.  _

_ Sirius Orion Black.  _

_ Alice Longbottom _

_ Severus Tobias Snape.  _

_ Amelia Bones. _

_ Pomona Sprout.  _

 

_ In no event is my son to be left with Petunia Dursley, née Evans, her husband, or her son.  _

_ In no event is my son to be left with Narcissa Malfoy, née Black, her husband, or her sister Bellatrix Lestrange, née Black, her husband or her brother-in-law.  _

 

_ In no event is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore to consider Harrison’s guardian be it Magical or through Adoption.  _

_ In no event is the Ministry to be considered Harrison’s guardian be it Magical or through Adoption.  _

  
  


_ Lily, Harry, I love you both, and I’ll know I’ll miss holding you in my arms while I watch over you.  _

 

_ James Charles Potter.  _

_ 72nd Lord Potter.  _

 

When James’ voice faded away, Severus could still hear Harry’s sobs, it was breaking his heart, but they didn’t have time to dwell on it, they needed to hear Lily’s before going back to Hogwarts. Severus was already planning though, as Ironclaw exchanged the orbs, he will have hot chocolate waiting for Harry when they were back, he wished he could contact Lupin, but he was away on a mission, but he would endure the twins’ presence, so they could cheer Harry up. 

 

Lily’s will wasn’t going to be easy to listen to either, not after Potter’s words, not with how much he missed her every day, not with how guilty he felt about Harry. 


	7. Lily's Will

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ask NICELY and it shall be delivered.

_I, Lily Potter, née Evans, sound of mind and body, do so declare on this day October 27th, 1981._

_Previous wills are null and void._

 

_I know the plan, in case Peter betrays us, is for me to run with Harry and not look back while James holds whoever came for us back, but I can’t help but pray James will still be alive at the end of the fight._

 

_James if you died before me, there will be Hell for you to pay in the afterlife._

 

_If my prayers were answered and you are alive, holding our precious little Harry in your arms, know that I love you. It took me a while, but as I looked at Harry last night while you were making bubbles float around him, I can’t help but feel grateful for your stubbornness. Thank you for never giving up on me, no matter how many times I told you to go polish your broom._

_I left letters for you James in my personal vault, as well as my diaries from our time at Hogwarts, share those with Harry when he gets older, so he won’t think you are too perfect._

 

_I know in the Wizarding World my will doesn’t hold much as James is still alive, but I know my dunderhead Griffyndor, maybe not today, but someday he will doubt himself and wonder if he was the best choice to raise Harry. So here it is:_

_James Charles Potter is to get sole custody of our child, his heir, Harrison James Potter. You are and will be the best Dad for Harry because you love him unconditionally. Just keep an eye on Sirius when he is around him._

 

_To Sirius, you know I won’t ever forgive what you did and what it cost me, but I have seen you grow into a semi-responsible man. I know your love for James will never flatter and it is my hope that one day you will feel just as deeply about Harry, though I know you are already smitten with your little pup. Don’t let his big green eyes lead you into too many troubles, he is one year old, he cannot convince you to feed him only ice-cream and candies, and if he did you are on babysitting duties, no pawing him off to James._

_He shouldn’t even know what candies are, I know you gave it to him while I was at Alice!_

_I don’t agree with James’ choice of guardian, I don’t think you are mature and focus enough to raise Harry, I have no doubt about you loving him every day of his life, but you still complain when James can’t go out for a drink after work, or when we have to stay at home instead of going to a Quidditch game because Harry had a cold._

_So, while I respect James’ choice, I will add my own condition._

 

_In the event James passed away before me, Sirius Orion Black is to take custody of Harrison James Potter, under the guidance of Minerva McGonagall for the first five years or until such time she deems him responsible enough to raise Harry on his own._

_You are his blood father Sirius don’t screw this up, or I will kick your ass so hard once you join us, you won’t be able to sit down until Ragnarok._

 

_To Remus, my friend, I have missed you this past few months, and I know Harry did too. James and Sirius probably do too, but you know them. I honestly don’t know what the idiots did to make you stay away from us, but I know you will forgive and forget and help them with Harry, and for that Thank you._

 

_As I know none of them need any money, I will all my personal possessions not willed to others to Remus John Lupin._

_It is not much, but as James has been taking care of all my expenses since we bonded it should be enough to see you through a couple of years, go to the University like you wanted to, find a good job in the muggle world. What they are doing to you and others like you in the Wizarding World isn’t right. I know you would rather stay with your peers, but they’ll never change. Make the best of both words Remus, there is no prejudice in the muggle world, work there, live with James, Sirius and Harry, no laws forbid you from doing so._

_Be Happy._

 

_Peter Pettigrew is our Secret Keeper, and this all I have to say about the little traitor._

_I_ _don’t care if we got attacked outside of the house or after Dumbledore came to change the Fidelius Charm, I don’t trust you, Peter, I never did. And now you are walking around in long sleeves even when working around the cottage. James is on to you too. I didn’t have time to tell him about it yet as I had this appointment to come to, but as soon as I get home I will explain what happened this morning. And just so you know I placed a ward stone in Harry’s room, you are not welcomed near him._

 

_To Albus Dumbledore, Stay away from us, please! I know James will follow our plans, and I hope nothing happens to us before our Samhain dinner so Sirius can be made aware for it too. You have no right to James’ title, or his seats, you cannot dictate how he votes or who he chooses to support. ‘I am Albus Dumbledore!’ isn’t a good enough reason to follow your lead without questions._

_Just so you know, I am looking into other schools for Harry, the verbiage you spewed on us when you came to congratulate us because his name was on the Book of Names isn’t seating right with me. Other schools exists, Harry doesn’t have to go to Hogwarts just because he was registered there at birth, it is not Fate or Destiny, it is a proximity spell, any children born in the United Kingdom, bar the Island of Ireland which doesn’t have the same borders as its muggle counterparts, are automatically registered in that book, not all will go to Hogwarts._

 

_To Alice Longbottom, please, please, please, set up playdates for Harry and Neville, and be a female role model for him. I don’t trust who the idiots will end up married to after I left. Make sure they do get married though, not just focus on Harry and forget themselves, I want my little one to have siblings and cousins, as we discussed._

 

_To Severus Snape, my brother in all but blood, I have missed you every day since our fight. It wasn’t my pride keeping me from you, it was fear. Fear for you if we kept our friendship out in the open, and not only because of the Marauders, but because of your housemate. I heard them say they wanted to teach you a lesson about Mudblood. Honestly, I didn’t know if it meant hurting you or hurting me, but it scared me. Alice had to hold me many nights that year as I cried myself to sleep after witnessing how sad and alone you were, I simply didn’t know how to help anymore._

_I thought the summer was near, and we would be back in our little town, I would find you under our tree away from prying eyes and I would talk to you, explain everything, you would find a way for us to keep in contact in secret and everything would be better. I only learned what happened to you parents on the train back to school, by then it was too late, you wouldn’t even look at me because I agreed to date James, nothing was the same. I should have tried harder._

_While I think Sirius isn’t a suitable guardian for our baby, it saddens me to tell you I agree with James about you. Oh, I want him to know you, I hope you’ll see myself in him more than you’ll see James, but I know how stubborn you can be. Remember he is my son too, get to know him, make peace with Sirius and Remus, help him grow up to be the best of us all._

_I know you started working at Hogwarts this year, so you will probably have no choice but to interact with him anyway._

 

_To my little Prongslet (don’t tell your dad I call you that in secret, I find it cute). I love you, more than anything in the world. I am sorry I had to leave you. I never wanted to leave you. The first week after you were born I wouldn’t even let you out of my sight, I can’t imagine a life for you without me there to keep you from flying too high, or completing your animagus transformation too early just to run with Daddy, Padfoot, and Moony… Don’t do it!_

_There was so much I wanted to be there for, and it is my hope for some of our divination lessons to true, so I can keep an eye on you and protect you._

_I wrote letters for you, my little Prongslet, one for each major events of your life. Your first letter from Hogwarts, your first love, your Fifth Year, Your NEWTs week, your graduation week and many more… The one you won’t find is your first accidental magic. We didn’t tell anyone but Sirius, Remus, and Alice, but you had several already my little mage, we are so proud of you, Dying Daddy’s hair Blue!!_

_You have my love Harry; ALWAYS._

 

_Guardians of my child:_

_James Charles Potter_

_If James left before me:_

_Sirius Orion Black._

_Alice Longbottom_

_Severus Tobias Snape._

_Amelia Bones._

_Pomona Sprout._

_In no event is my son to be left with Petunia Dursley, née Evans, her husband, or her son._

_In no event is my son to be left with Narcissa Malfoy, née Black, her husband, or her sister Bellatrix Lestrange, née Black, her husband or her brother-in-law._

_In no event is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore to consider Harrison’s guardian be it Magical or through Adoption._

_In no event is the Ministry to be considered Harrison’s guardian be it Magical or through Adoption._

 

_James, Harry, I love you more than life itself. Be true to yourself. Be happy, Love, live. It is what I wished for you as I lived, so it is in my death._

 

_Lily Potter, Née Evans,_

_75th Lady Potter._

 

Septimus made a gesture for Bill to pass Harry over to Severus, so they could cry themselves out and comfort each other. 

While Ironclaw asked for tea, while human emotions were uncomfortable for him, he understood the pain the wills brought on and would give them a few minutes to gather themselves before he went back to business, they were needed back to Hogwarts and still had decisions to make before they could leave. Though he was happy to notice while the ward stone in the youngling was shimmering brightly enough to be seen from under the hastily conjured black robe, his magic wasn’t leaking or destroying anything. 

He could see great tiding coming from this little one, and he would make sure nothing kept him from achieving his destiny, not the one decided for him by a meddling old man, starting with transferring Cursebreaker Weasley to London for the foreseeable future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a couple of things...  
> Next chapter will they will go back to Hogwarts (at the end)  
> To those who notice details: Yes, James was the 72nd lord Potter but Lily is the 75th Lady Potter... Some Lords married more than once.


	8. Beaming Twins and Detentions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are back at Hogwarts

Harry was confused and a little tired. The only thing keeping him from asking questions was Snape’s (“You can call me Severus, Harry”) own visible confusion. 

Harry was sitting at his usual desk in the potion classroom, his _Magical Drafts and Potions_ by Arsenius Jigger, open on a random page, he was waiting for Snape to signal him before he started ladling the potion cauldron Snape put on his desk as a decoy.  

How would they know when the time came? Easy, Harry in what he was starting to think was a crazy Gryffindor moment, loaned his Marauders' Map to his most hated teacher. The man was keeping an eye on Dumbledore’s office, and they were waiting for Lord Weasley to be led out to start acting their charade. 

As planned, or so Harry was told, while Bill staid with Ironclaw to look into the Prewett’s account, Lord Weasley apparated to Hogwarts to distract Dumbledore and give Snape and Harry time to make their way to the dungeon. Lord Weasley was going to take the Weasleys out of school for a day on Halloween, and Harry couldn’t help but feel uneasy about it, only adding more questions to his already confused mind. 

“Harry, What is wrong?” Snape asked him and Harry noticed he was brushing the heel of his right hand over his breastbone repeatedly. 

“Nothing, I am just confused,” Harry told him, but Snape didn’t seem convinced. 

“We may not have much time, but we can talk if you want.” 

“I just…” Harry started but shook his head, they didn’t have time for complicated questions, but Snape promised him more detention, so they could talk. “Do you think it will take long?” 

“Why?” Snape asked looking back at the map, “They are moving toward the door.” 

Harry mumbled his answer, but Snape raised his eyebrow at him. “I have a hollow feeling, just above my heart, I think…” 

“You miss the twins,” Snape finished for him. 

“But I saw them, at lunch, they even walked us to potion class since they had free time before Care,” Harry told him. 

“It was before the bond was released Harry, you are going to miss them when they are away until you can make sure they are always coming back to you.”

Harry knew it was stupid, but he really wanted to run toward the Gryffindor Tower to know if the twins were blocked too or not, he didn’t think he could handle it if they had been feeling like this all this time. 

“They are in detention with your Head of House,” Snape told him gesturing toward the map, “you’ll see them after curfew.” 

 Harry knew he was sulking, but he didn’t care, it would simply make the charade more believable, and why did McGonagall need to give the twins detention for, anyway?

“Start ladling,” Snape told him before muttering, “Mischief Managed,” making the map look like a blank piece of parchment once more, which he slid into Harry’s bag just as Dumbledore knocked on the door. 

“Come in,” Snape said growling at the door, as he would have if any student dared to interrupt Harry's torture, also known as detention. 

Dumbledore looked startled when he opened the door and saw Harry, but he pulled himself back together rapidly. 

“What can I do for you Headmaster?” Snape asked. 

“I was looking for Mr. Potter,” the Headmaster said in faux- concern. 

“As you can see,” Snape pointed at Harry, who was busy ladling his last vial of potion, “he is serving his detention.” 

“He missed dinner,” Dumbledore pushed. 

“I needed ingredients from the Forest to replace those he let Longbottom waste,” Snape sneered, and it was weird for Harry to know the man didn’t really mean it. “I thought prudent to go before Dusk, we wouldn’t want another event like his first year.” 

“Surely, Severus…” Dumbledore started but Snape interrupted him. 

“You are dismissed, Mr. Potter.” 

“Sir, the cauldron…” 

“Will still be dirty tomorrow, come here right after class.” 

“Severus,...” 

Snape held his hand to silence the Headmaster while Harry packed his bag and left, as he closed the door behind him he heard the Headmaster ask, 

“How long did you gave him, Severus? Surely, you know it wasn’t his fault.”

Oh, Harry knew it wasn’t his fault, and he was well aware Snape knew it was never, almost, his fault, didn’t keep the potion master from doling out detentions as if they were candies, where Harry was concerned. 

Harry went directly to the tower, he forgot to watch the clock before leaving the classroom and didn’t know how close to curfew it could be, but he hoped McGonagall wouldn’t keep the twins for too long. 

As he climbed through the portrait, Hermione was on him before he could even look around the common room to see who was present. 

“Where were you? We looked everywhere. The Headmaster was worried. Why did you leave the hospital wing?” Harry never noticed before but Hermione didn’t even breathe between her questions, not leaving him any time to answer, and then… Yep, right on cue, she would hit his arm and berate him for not answering. 

“I was in detention,” Harry informed her, and whoever was behind her, as all he could see was her hair. 

“Oh, no, I am so sorry,” So, Neville was there. 

“Of course, he gave you detention for something you didn’t do,” Ron ranted. 

“Madam Pomfrey must have said it was okay,” Ginny informed them. 

Before he could add anything though the portrait opened and Hermione dragged him away. 

“Harry, you need to keep away from Snape, you know he likes giving you detentions, can’t you keep his attention from yourself in Potion at least?” Hermione asked, and Harry wondered if she was always like this. 

“I am sure if he could get away with it he would expel Harry for Breathing too loud,” Ron added. 

“Harry, I am sorry,” Neville repeated. 

“I am okay, Neville, nothing Madam Pomfrey couldn’t heal, and Snape took me to the Forest to collect more ingredients than he made me redo the potion,” Harry explained tiredly. 

“No scrubbing cauldron? You usually scrub cauldron. It wasn’t even your potion that exploded,” Hermione asked. 

“I’ll scrub cauldron tomorrow,” Harry informed her, gaining himself another lecture on appropriate behavior. 

He was too tired to even argue and tell her he gave him a week worth of detention for the explosion, he didn’t add tomorrow’s detention due to Harry’s cheek as he would usually do. Let her believe what she will. 

He just wanted to see the twins before he went to bed. 

He fingered the Rune Stone in his pocket, thinking of his evening. He still didn’t understand what came over him. If anyone asked this morning who he wanted to live with, who he would choose as a guardian if given the choice he'd had said Sirius without a doubt. Yet, when Ironclaw asked, this very same question, it was Snape’s name which came out of his mouth, he didn’t even think twice about it. 

While he was fake reading, in his fake detention, he let his thoughts wander, and figured Sirius was still wanted, Snape was here at school, but yet, Lord Weasley said Lady Weasley was already in charge of the Black Family, so he could have chosen her, or Bill, he knew Bill, and he was already the Twins’ guardian. But no matter how many other persons he thought about, he didn’t regret his choice. 

Snape asked while they were still in Ironclaw’s office if Harry was sure, but although he still couldn’t explain it, Harry was sure. Of course, Lord Weasley asked Snape to take the vow the wills required for Snape to get custody, but after that everything went fast, papers were signed, and suddenly they were back in Hogwarts with Snape promising to take care of him and he would keep him away from the Dursley, Harry would never see them again, unless he wanted to. 

As Hermione and Ron kept fighting over his detentions, and Ginny kept trying to sit next to him even if it meant seating on a beet red Neville’s lap. Harry was happy to have left the Hogwarts stone representation with Snape so no one would ask where he found it. 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the twins climbed into the Common Room. Harry’s mind was focused solely on them, vaguely acknowledging Hermione trying to get his attention, but he really didn’t care, they were there, and he finally felt himself relax. As he felt, his cheeks reddening, he couldn’t help but think ‘don’t jump on them, don’t jump on them’, no matter how much he wanted to, especially when they beamed at him in return to his simple “Hello.” 

Harry knew they had to be discreet though, as they didn’t know who would go to the Headmaster and tell him about their weird behavior, so he kept away from them, even if the twins didn’t seem to like it, as they kept glancing at him. Finally, when Hermione realized Harry wasn’t going to answer to any of her complaints, he took out his Charms book and pretended to start his homework, instead writing a note to the twins, telling them they had detention with Snape the next night, and he would be there, they could talk then, which seemed to be exactly what the twins needed to relax as they started selling WWW products behind Hermione’s and the prefects’ back as they had done nightly since the Welcome Feast.


	9. Lady Ravenclaw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enters Luna

Harry’s day was uneventful for which he was grateful as he couldn’t focus on anything. Time seemed to pass slower than usual. He hadn’t slept much, not that he thought anyone would have expected him to. He kept wondering what was going to happen now, how Snape was going to be as his guardian, what the Weasleys’ test results were going to reveal, were the twins going to accept the bond, what was going to happen with Luna. Too much was going on, and he still missed the twins. 

Since he was awake he went down to breakfast early thinking he’d have time to see Fred and George before class, only they seemed to have had a similar idea and stayed in the common room waiting for Harry to come down, or at least Harry assumed when they came down with his dormmate looking disappointed as Seamus and Ron sat on either side of Harry, Hermione having been up early was already seating in front of him. 

Lunch, went pretty much the same, but Harry told his friends he wanted to eat with the Quidditch team to see if they still wanted to train even though Quidditch was canceled for the year, and sat between Angelina and Fred for a few minutes before George stood up and convincing Lee to man up and go talk to the girl sat back down on Harry’s other side which made him laugh. 

“So, why do we have detention tonight?” George asked but before Harry could explain the bell rang, and they had to leave for their afternoon classes. 

CoMC had never seemed so boring to Harry, he couldn’t wait for his detention, which he made the mistake to remind Hermione of when she asked him and Ron if they wanted to go to the library after dinner. 

Finally, dinner was over, and when Harry noticed Snape leaving the Great Hall by the teachers’ door he signaled the twins only mildly surprised when they were joined by the door by Luna Lovegood. 

“Is there something we can help you with, Luna?” Fred asked when she simply followed them to the dungeons. 

“No, thank you,” She said and kept walking by their side. 

Fred and George were both about to ask for an explanation but Harry stopped them, it was never good to ask too many questions to Luna. 

“On time for once, Mr. Potter, and I see you gave my message to Mr. Weasleys, very well, detention will start in a minute you can get in,” Snape told them when he came to open the door for them, though his eyes never left Luna. “Miss Lovegood, is there something I can help you with?” 

“I am here for detention,” Luna told him. 

“I did not give you detention,” Snape argued. 

“Of course not,” Luna told him and Harry had to step on the twins’ foot to keep them from laughing at her tone. “I had Professor Trelawney give me one,” She said and walked past Snape to come to sit on a bench next to Harry and the twins. 

“Professor Trelawney usually handles the few detentions she gives herself, you can go and find her,” Snape said keeping the door open fully expecting to be obeyed. 

“No, she doesn’t want me to take her class anymore,” Luna informed him. 

“What did you tell her?” Harry asked surprised, even Hermione had to give up the class, as Trelawney was still ready to welcome her after Hermione said the class was a fraud. 

“Told her she was going to die while surrounded by light and darkness,” Luna told them seriously before her eyes tuned dreamy again, “it seems she doesn’t like it when we predict her own death.” 

“Thank you,” Harry told her after he stopped laughing. 

“Be that as it may, I cannot supervise your detention this week, go report to Professor Flitwick,” Snape told her. 

“I put a lot of effort into getting my first detention, I am staying,” She told him firmly. 

“Why would you get out of your way to get a detention?” George asked her, though Fred, Harry, and Snape wanted to know the answer too. 

“To spend time with my husband,” Luna told them with a smile. 

Snape closed and locked the door casting every ward known to exist around the room before walking toward her, “What do you know?” 

“Come one let them talk,” Harry told the twins and dragged them further into the room, far away to give them some privacy, but still close enough to eavesdrop. 

Harry pushed Fred until he sat down before doing the same with George, and before any of them could ask what was going on he settled himself on their lap sighing when he leaned back against them, and they automatically put their arms around him to keep him safe. 

“You know what, brother mine?” George asked. 

“I don’t think this is detention,” Fred answered and moved a little, so he could hug Harry and Georges better. 

“You know about the contract?” Snape asked Luna. 

“Of course I know, I told Daddy to sign it,” Luna told him. 

"Why would you do that?” Snape snapped at her. 

“I had my reasons, one of them was that Mommy was gone, if anything happened to Daddy I didn’t want the Headmaster to become my guardian, with the contract in place I knew the Goblins would give me to you if anything happened,” Luna informed them, standing up to join Harry and the twins, ignoring Snape’s questions. “I wanted to protect my lord,” she said and dropped down in a deep curtsey. 

Fred and George looked between Snape, Luna, and Harry, before nodding to each other, they stood up forcing Harry to stoop up too and bowed next to Luna. 

“Get back up!” Snape ordered but was ignored. 

“What is going on?” Harry asked and Snape came closer to him. 

“They want to serve you,” He explained. 

“What?” Harry said panicked. “Like the Death Eaters?” 

“No,” Snape said firmly when Luna and the twins didn’t. “Nothing like that. At the moment they can only offer their friendship and guidance as they are not old enough to truly pledge themselves, but they won’t get back up or say a word until you either accept or reject them.” 

“How do I do that?” Harry asked, already planning to berate them for freaking him out. 

“Remember what Ironclaw told you? Your magic knows the way,” Snape told him. 

Harry nodded, and took a deep breath, as Bill had shown him to do before they came back to Hogwarts, then another until he didn’t feel as upset anymore, he thought about what he wanted to do, and as it happened when he carved the stone in the ritual room his magic guided him. 

“My Lady,” Harry said and kissed Luna’s forehead, making her giggle and stand up, then he moved on to the twins and slapped the back of their heads. “Get up!” he told them playfully knowing their gesture didn’t mean the same as Luna’s had. 

Fred and George stood up and Harry went to hug them both getting in between them relishing the calm and safeness he felt from their hug. 

Meanwhile, Luna was explaining her involvement, “Didn’t the Goblins told you, you are Lord Ravenclaw? They were supposed to.” 

“Yes, they did,” Snape told her, his tone showing he was close to snapping at her. 

“Then I don’t see what else I can explain,” Luna told him. 

“Luna?” Harry told her trying hard not to laugh at the gobsmacked expression on Snape’s face. “You might want to explain with more details,” Harry told her when she turned toward him. 

“Oh, okay,” She said shrugging and going to sit cross-legged on top of a desk. “Lady Ravenclaw is always a Lovegood,” She told them before turning to Snape, “you are Lord Ravenclaw because you are my husband.” 

Harry, Fred, and George busted out laughing when she stopped her explanation at that and Snape began to mutter ‘why me’. 

“You three, stop laughing before I make you scrub cauldron!” He told them and Harry led Fred and George away from the mean teacher who wanted to punish them. 

Luna stood up and went to hug Snape, “Lady Ravenclaw was a seer, she left the House of Lovegood a list of suitable mates for each lady, you, Severus Snape, are the only one she thought was suitable for me.” 

“Why weren’t I told?” He asked her after he calmed down, hugging her back briefly. 

“The Headmaster put a curse on the contract, you could only be told about it if you found out about it on your own,” Luna told him, totally unconcerned, “which going to the goblins and agreeing to their test qualify as.” 

“Why would he do that?” Fred asked. 

“To cancel it after I married Ginny,” Harry said angrily, Luna nodding at him, making Fred, and George tightens their hold on him, and Snape curse. 

“What happened yesterday? We were planning a prank when we felt…” George said. 

“Something,” Fred finished. 

“It felt amazing,” George said with a grin. 

“But McGonagall walked in on us, and gave us immediate detention, so we didn’t have time to look into it…” Fred explained. 

“And it hurt just here,” George said brushing his hand over his heart.

“When we went back to the common room and saw Harry…”  Fred kept on when Harry snuggled into them.

“It felt like coming home,” Harry finished for them, but they nodded their agreement. 

“You will have to be in contact regularly, I will have to look into them, I’ve never seen soulmates after their initial bonding before, and Bill said it could be painful to try and separate you,” Snape said. 

“You saw Bill?” George asked. 

“Yes, yesterday, we needed your grandfather for something and Bill came with him,” Harry told them, knowing Snape couldn’t talk about what happened as it would be alluding to his situation. 

“Luna said you went to Gringotts,” Fred probed. 

Harry sighed he knew the twins wouldn’t let it go, so made them sat back on the bench and explained everything to them. 

“So what we felt was the purge?” Fred asked. 

“Probably,” Snape answered, “You didn’t have time to form a deep bond yet, but since then you became good friends and when the bond was released it probably latched onto those feelings to reinforce itself, making it close to impossible to break or bind again.”

“Okay,” George said with a decisive nod. 

“Just okay?” Harry asked surprised. 

“Oh, the Dursleys are going to get pranked and this time we won’t let Dad reverse any of it, but for now, Professor Snape, Grandpa, and Bill are going to work so you don’t have to go back,” Fred told him. 

“We will let the adults handle it, and research Soulmates and spend as much time with you as we can,” George informed him. 

Harry had never seen them so serious before, but it didn’t worry him, not even a little, it made him feel loved and cared for. 

“We are also going to prank Ron, Hermione, and Ginny,” Fred said with an evil grin. 

That was more like the twins, Harry knew and loved. 

“We can’t do anything about the Headmaster, we don’t want to be expelled,” George said. 

“But we will find everything he is trying to hide,” Fred affirmed. 

“No,” Snape told them. “I draw the line here, I will not say anything about your siblings and Miss Granger, include Miss Cho and her friends as I know they have been bullying Luna, but you do not involve yourself in the Headmaster’s plan, he might look like a gentle senile old man but there is a good reason for people to say even the Dark Lord is scared of him.” 

“Wouldn’t that put you in danger, sir?” Harry asked he didn’t want his new guardian in danger.

“He can’t do anything to me that I cannot handle, Harry,” Severus said trying to reassure him. 

“But I don’t want you to get hurt because of me,” Harry told him. 

“Harry, come here,” Severus told him and sat on his desk chair placing Harry in front of him. “None of this is your fault, and IF, I get hurt investigating the Headmaster it is the Headmaster’s fault, not your own, do you understand?” 

“But…” 

“No but, Harry, I am serious, what the Headmaster is doing is wrong, and I can guarantee it is not your fault, as you did nothing to him, did you?” 

“Well, no…” 

“Then it is settled, go back to your hugging, I’ll talk to Luna while you spend time with the twins,” Severus told him and turned him toward the twins. 

“He is right you know?” George asked after the settled Harry between himself and Fred once more. 

“I know, but I don’t like it,” Harry told them. 

“How about we distract you?” George asked him. 

“Want to know what we were planning when McGonagall interrupted us?” Fred asked and Harry nodded enthusiastically, soon forgetting all about the headmaster laughing at the pranks the twins were explaining. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I was already planning, on writing this chapter today, but next time someone whines about the wait between chapters planned or not I will withhold the update until I don't feel angry about the complete lack of respect for the fact that I have a life...

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I love comments... Also kind of tired if I forgot tags or you have questions please ask I'll answer faster than I'll post the next chapter ;)
> 
> I have a new facebook account for my writings please follow the link:
> 
> [Atheandra](https://www.facebook.com/atheandra.fanfiction.5)


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